EFCC arraigns 22 bankers over currency fraud

A total of 22 bankers comprising 16 staff of deposit money banks and 6 staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were Tuesday arraigned before the Federal High Court, Ibadan, Oyo State, on a five-count charge of fraud. All the suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The banks whose staff were arraigned include Zenith Bank, First CityMomument Bank (FCMB), Wema Bank, Access Bank, First Bank, Skye Bank, Ecobank and Sterling Bank. The CBN had on November 3, 2014, lodged a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) inviting the agency to take over the investigation and prosecution of the cases which involved the swapping of currency boxes containing mutilated naira notes meant for routine destruction at its Ibadan branch.
This illegal act which began as far back as 2011, according to officials of the Central Bank, came under scrutiny barely two months of resumption of office of the current Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who insisted on and ordered a full investigation which produced evidence of fraud.
According to a statement from the apex bank, “During a routine internal audit of the Bank’s Cash Destruction activities in September 2014, the CBN Briquetting Panel comprising Senior Bank Staff from different branches noticed some anomalies at the Ibadan Branch, and immediately reported this to the Bank’s Management. On further investigation ordered by the Governor, it was discovered that a systematic scheme, which has been on for several years, was being run in which mutilated higher denomination notes originally meant for destruction were swapped with lower denomination currencies”.
The statement continued that “As soon as the Bank’s internal investigations concluded beyond reasonable doubt that some wrongdoing had occurred, the affected members of staff who are middle-level officers were, depending on gravity of offence, either summarily dismissed or immediately placed on indefinite suspension on 21 October 2014, and all handed over to the EFCC for further investigation and prosecution”.