The former CBN governor will be arraigned on Monday, April
8, before Rahman Oshodi, judge of an Ikeja high court, in Lagos.
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 alleged to have collected
$110,000 for Emefiele as a reward for allocating foreign exchange by the
central bank in favour of one Raja Punjab in November 2020.
According to the charge, the offences committed contravened
Section 73 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
Emefiele is currently facing a 20-count amended charge
bordering on 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 chief executive officer (CEO) of the Financial Reporting Council of
Nigeria (FRCN), as a special investigator to probe the activities of the CBN
and related entities.
On December 22, 2023, Obazee’s team submitted its report to
Tinubu — revealing alleged fraudulent activities and malfeasance in Nigeria’s
apex bank.
In the report, the special investigator’s panel accused
Emefiele of consenting to the “unlawful removal” of $6.23 million from the
vault of the apex bank’s Abuja office.
