Leading agribusiness company, Olam Nigeria Limited is currently under investigation by the Department of State Security DSS for a $50billion mega economic fraud involving the company and their nine subsidiaries.
In a chain of round-tripping foreign exchange deals since 2015, the
The company was alleged to have booked about $34 billion with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, as capital importation at official rates through its Special Purpose Vehicles, SPVs and rather than investing the money into the Nigerian economy, it round-tripped the forex and sold to business men, especially oil and gas marketers and industries such Indorama and Fouani, at parallel market rates.
According to alleged private investigations, Olam was in the habit of directing the forex buyers to lodge the naira equivalent into the account of one or many of its SPVs during the period under review.
Some of the companies in question were said to have fictitious Nigerians as directors, with the accounts solely managed by the Indian expatriates, some of whom are based in Europe and Asia.
With the DSS launching a probe into the FX fraud and anchor-borrower scheme deals that took place under the suspended governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele, a chain of shell companies linked to Olam has been reportedly uncovered by the country’s secret police.
Security agents were said to have uncovered traces of transfers into accounts controlled by one Aminu Yaro, one of the ‘fronts’ of the embattled CBN governor.
Yaro had been previously investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and is currently in DSS detention since July 12.
The DSS had reportedly invited some expatriates, including the MD/CEO of Olam Nigeria Limited Ashish Pande and some top officers of the company, namely Prakash Kanth, Sudhir Goenka, Niraj Shah, Chandrasekran Balaji and Venkataramani Srivathshan.
The Chief Financial Officer of Crown Flour Mill Limited, Rajeesh Damodaram Valagulam was also reported to have been invited.
Crown Flour Mill Limited is alleged to be one of the major Olam subsidiaries in Nigeria, with speculations rife that Olam Nigeria Limited and their subsidiaries are the key FX speculators that contributed to the declining value of Nigerian currency, naira.
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