Six Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
officials and 16 others from some commercial banks are to face trial for
alleged N8 billion fraud, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
said yesterday.
The
suspects, the agency alleged, stole and recirculated defaced and mutilated
currencies.
A
statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren,
said: “The suspects drawn from various business units of the apex bank are to
be arraigned by the anti-graft agency before a Federal High Court sitting in
Ibadan, Oyo State, from Tuesday June 2, 2015 to Thursday June 4, 2015.
“They
include Patience Okoro Eye (Abuja), Afolabi Olufemi (Lagos), Kolawole Babalola
(Ibadan), Olaniran Muniru Adeola (Ibadan), Fatai Yusuf, Adekunle (Head,
Security, CBN, (Ibadan) and Ilori Adekunle Sunday (Akure).
“The
remaining 16 suspects are drawn from various commercial banks who were found to
have conspired with the CBN executives to swing the heist.
The Nation report continues:
“All
the suspects who are currently in the custody of the EFCC are now ruing the day
they literally allowed greed and craze for materialism to becloud their sense
of judgment and responsibility, when they elected to help themselves to tons of
defaced Naira notes.
“
Instead of carrying out the statutory instruction to destroy the currency, they
substituted it with newspapers neatly cut to Naira sizes and proceeded to
recycle the defaced and mutilated currency.
“The
fraud is partly to blame for the failure of government monetary policy over the
years as currency mop-up exercises by the apex bank failed to check the
inflationary pressure on the economy.”
The
commission gave further details on how the fraud was perpetrated by the
suspects.
The
statement added: “The lid on the scam, which is widely suspected to have gone
on unchecked for years, was blown on November 3, 2014 via a petition to the
EFCC alleging that over N6, 575, 549, 370.00 was cornered and discreetly
recycled by light fingered top executives of the CBN at the Ibadan branch.
“The
suspects, who were members of the Briquetting Panel, plotted their way to
infamy on September 8, 2014 while carrying out a Briquetting exercise at the
CBN Branch, Ibadan.
“In
banking parlance, Briquetting is disintegration and destruction of counted and
audited dirty notes. By this practice, depositor banks usually take mutilated
notes to the CBN in exchange for fresh notes equivalent of the amount
deposited.
“The
depositor banks, in this instance, are Zenith Bank, FCMB, Wema Bank, Access
Bank, First Bank, Skye Bank, Ecobank and Sterling Bank
“But
while carrying out the assignment, the team was alleged to have found one of
the currency boxes filled only with old newspapers rather than 20 bundles of
N1000 notes.
A
similar case, according to investigation, had been discovered on September 22,
2014 when a box that was supposed to contain N500 notes to the tune of
N5billion was filled with old newspapers.
“Unlike
in the past, this fraud could not be swept under the carpet, as a member of the
Briquetting Panel from the Osogbo branch blew the lid on the illicit deal.
“In
a statement, the informant stated that the exercise was designed to last
between August 4 and 8, 2014. The 35-year-old, however, stated that she
discovered a strange ‘sight’ while opening the third box on the second day of
the exercise. It was a discovery that beat her ken.
“She
added that she confronted the other members of the panel, including Eye, Head,
Briquetting Panel; Treasury Assistant; Coordinator and Head, Security, CBN,
Ibadan, who all assured her that they would look into it.
“
But she later found out that it was all a ruse. She said she later found out
that Eye not only maintained sealed lips over the matter but omitted it from
her report.
“A five-count charge awaits
the suspects.”
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