The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has written to 52 companies, requiring them to furnish documentation proving the distribution and use of foreign currency sold to them at official prices during the last decade.
CBN Special Investigator Jim Obaze incited the corporations, which included Dangote and BUA groups, both of whose head offices in Lagos were raided on Thursday by the anti-graft agency.
The EFCC has requested that the enterprises provide Form A and Form M detailing the currency allocations made to them between 2014 and June 2023.
While some businesses cooperated with the demand, several others were claimed to have requested more time to obtain the necessary documentation.
Nigeria used multiple exchange rates until June 2023, which experts say contributed to distortions in forex allocation, market instability, and swings.
The program was blamed for naira inflation and growing black market activity, which were alleged to have undercut the efficiency of the CBN’s monetary policies.
According to a top EFCC officer, the EFCC is looking into the preferential foreign exchange allocations allegedly made by Emefiele in violation of existing financial laws and regulations as well as the CBN Act.
The official claimed:
“The EFCC is investigating the Dangote Group over the preferential foreign exchange allocations made by the former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele in defiance of extant financial rules and regulations and in disregard to the CBN Act.
“There are about 51 other big companies under probe over the development too, and the commission discovered that the allocations were not approved by the former President Muhammadu Buhari, so it was more of a means for the former CBN governor and his cronies to launder money through forex and Bureau De Change operators.”
(The PUNCH)