The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed new criminal charges against Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank (CBN).
The 26-count charge includes accepting gratification, accepting gifts through agents, corruption, receiving fraudulently obtained property, and providing a corrupt advantage to his associates.
The EFCC accused Emefiele of abusing his office in Lagos between 2022 and 2023.
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria will be arraigned before Judge Rahman Oshodi of an Ikeja High Court in Lagos on Monday, April 8th.
The commission alleged that Emefiele “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $2,136,391,737.33 without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians”.
The EFCC further alleged that Emefiele, between 2020 and 2021, in Lagos, “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary, act to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $291,945,785.59, without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians”.
Emefiele was also alleged to have, in 2021, in Lagos, “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: special allocation of foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $1,769,254,793.16, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians”.
Emefiele’s co-defendant was accused of collecting $110,000 as a reward for the central bank allocating foreign exchange to one Raja Punjab in November 2020.
According to the charge, the offences violated Section 73 of the Lagos State Criminal Law, 2011.
Emefiele is currently facing a 20-count amended charge. The charge includes alleged criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud, and conspiracy to commit a felony.
In July 2023, President Bola Tinubu appointed Jim Obazee, former CEO of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), as a special investigator to look into the CBN and related entities’ activities.
Obazee’s team submitted a report to Tinubu on December 22, 2023. The report detailed alleged fraudulent activities and malfeasance at Nigeria’s central bank.
According to the report, the special investigator’s panel accused Emefiele of consenting to the “unlawful removal” of $6.23 million from the apex bank’s Abuja vault.