Alleged N7bn theft: EFCC to arraign six top CBN executives Tuesday

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said it will arraign six top executives of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before a Federal High Court in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Tuesday.
A statement signed by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, noted that the suspects will be arraign on a five-count charge bordering on “mega scam involving the theft and recirculation of defaced and mutilated currencies.”
The suspects, whom the statement said were drawn from various business units of the apex bank, are: Patience Okoro Eye( Abuja) , Afolabi Olufemi( Lagos), Kolawole Babalola( Ibadan), Olaniran Muniru Adeola(Ibadan), Fatai Yusuf, Adekunle( Head, Security, CBN, (Ibadan) and Ilori Adekunle Sunday,(Akure).
Also to be arraigned, according to the statement, are 16 staff of different banks who, the Commission said, had conspired with the aforementioned suspects, to perpetrate the alleged criminal act.
The statement reads in part: “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has concluded arrangement to arraign in court, five top executives of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) implicated in a mega scam involving the theft and recirculation of defaced and mutilated currencies.
“The remaining 16 suspects are drawn from various commercial banks who were found to have conspired with the CBN executives to swing the heist.
“All the suspects, who are currently in the custody of the EFCC, are now ruing the day they literally allowed greed and craze for materialism to be loud their sense of judgment and responsibility, when they elected to help themselves to tones of defaced naira notes. Instead of carrying out the statutory instruction to destroy the currency, they substituted it with newspapers neatly cut to naira sizes and proceeded to recycle the defaced and mutilated currency.
“The fraud is partly to blame for the failure of government monetary policy over the years as currency mop up exercises by the apex bank failed to check the inflationary pressure on the economy.
“The lid on the scam which is widely suspected to have gone on unchecked for years, was blown on November 3, 2014 via a petition to the EFCC alleging that over N6, 575, 549, 370.00 was cornered and discreetly recycled by light fingered top executives of the CBN at the Ibadan branch.
“The suspects, who were members of the Briquetting Panel, plotted their way to infamy on September 8, 2014, while carrying out a Briquetting exercise at the CBN Branch, Ibadan.
“The depositor banks in this instance, are Zenith Bank, FCMB, Wema Bank, Access Bank, First Bank, Skye Bank, Ecobank and Sterling Bank.
“But while carrying out the assignment, the team were alleged to have found one of the currency boxes filled only with old newspapers rather than 20 bundles of N1000 notes.
“A similar case, according to investigation, had been discovered on September 22, 2014 when a box that was supposed to contain N500 notes to the tune of N5billion was filled with old newspapers.
“Unlike in the past, this fraud could not be swept under the carpet, as a member of the Briquetting Panel from the Osogbo branch blew the lid on the illicit deal. In a statement, the informant stated that the exercise was designed to last between August 4 and 8, 2014.”