The Special Investigator on the CBN and Related Entities, Jim Obaze, has said former Central Bank of Nigeria CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, illegally lodged billions of naira in at least 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and China without the approval of the apex bank’s board of directors and the CBN Investment Committee.
Obaze said he found out that Emefiele lodged £543, 482,213 in fixed deposits in UK banks alone without authorisation.
Obaze’s final report tagged, ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences) which was submitted to President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday partly read:
“The former governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele invested Nigeria’s money without authorization in 593 foreign bank accounts in United States, China and United Kingdom, while he was in charge.
“All the accounts where the billions were lodged have all been traced by the investigator.”
On the naira redesign, the investigator found that former President Buhari did not approve of it but it was Tunde Sabiu who first told Emefiele in September 2022 to consider the redesign of the naira.
It would be recalled that on October 6, 2022, Emefiele wrote to Buhari that he wanted to redesign and reconfigure N1000, N500 and N200 notes.
“The former President tagged along but did not approve the redesign as required by law. Buhari merely approved that the currency be printed in Nigeria. The redesign was only mentioned to the board of the CBN on December 15, 2022, after Emefiele had awarded the contract to the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc on October 31, 2022,’’ the documents noted.
The report says Emefiele contracted the redesign of the naira to De La Rue of the UK for £205, 000 pounds under the vote head of the Currency Operations Department after the NSPM had said it could not deliver the contract within a short timeframe.
According to the special investigator, N61.5bn was earmarked for the printing of the new notes out of which N31.79bn had been paid.
N769bn of the new notes were in circulation as of August 9, 2023, the report revealed.
The report also revealed the fraudulent use of N26.627tn Ways and Means of the Apex Bank as well as the misuse of the COVID-19 intervention fund.
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