Forex scandal: Dangote officials summoned to Abuja as EFCC extends probe

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has escalated its investigation into alleged abuses of foreign exchange allocations under the leadership of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele. As part of this investigation, the EFCC has now summoned officials of the Dangote Group, owned by billionaire Aliko Dangote, to bring detailed documents related to foreign exchange transactions spanning the last nine years to their office in Abuja.

This development follows a raid by EFCC operatives at the Dangote Industries Limited headquarters in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday. The probe focuses on the alleged preferential forex allocations to the Dangote Group and 51 other companies during Emefiele’s tenure.InformationGuideNigeria

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According to a report from Saturday PUNCH, while the EFCC operatives seized some documents during the raid at Dangote’s headquarters, these did not cover all the transactions under scrutiny. Consequently, the officials of Dangote Group have been directed to present more comprehensive documentation in Abuja on Tuesday.

Aliko Dangote was reportedly in the United States when the EFCC conducted the raid, but sources indicate he is aware of the agency’s demands and plans to return to Nigeria next week to address the situation personally. It is unclear whether Dangote was informed in advance about the EFCC’s decision to send operatives to his company.

A senior official from the EFCC stated that senior executives from the Dangote Group have been instructed to provide “detailed and unambiguous documents” regarding the commission’s requests.NYSC Portal

This move is part of the EFCC’s broader efforts to address alleged financial improprieties and to ensure accountability in the management of Nigeria’s financial resources, particularly in relation to foreign exchange transactions.

“Yes, they (Dangote officials) asked for time to enable them to get all the necessary documents, which was granted. The idea is not to be seen to be witch-hunting anyone. What the commission wants is to get evidence and details of how government funds were allocated and that is all,” the EFCC official, who spoke to one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the development, said.

An official of the Dangote Group also confirmed that some key personnel of the conglomerate were currently gathering the documents requested by the EFCC to clear the company of any wrongdoing.

The source noted that the firm had sent some documents and key members of staff to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja in respect to the ongoing investigation, adding that it was shocked that the anti-graft agency still stormed its Lagos office on Thursday.JAMB Result

The official stated, “Yes, we were aware of the ongoing investigation by the EFCC and our people were at the headquarters in Abuja with some of the requested documents as of the time its operatives invaded our Lagos office in what I will describe as a show-off.

“We are a law-abiding group, but it is difficult to get all the documents covering the tenure of Emefiele at once, but our people are working at night to get all the relevant documents, which will be sent to the anti-graft agency next week.”

The source added, “As of the time of the raid, our people were in Abuja. We have been sleeping in the office to make sure that we get all the documents the EFCC requires for the investigation.JAMB Portal

“We are talking about documents from 2014 to June 2023. It is a lot of documents and it will take time to get all of them readily available. We have, however, sent the ones we have at our immediate disposal and they are with the commission.

“The raid was just a way of embarrassing us and an act of show-off. We are law-abiding people running a legitimate business and we are cooperating with the investigation.”

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