2024-01-05 16:29:32
Published on January 5, 2024
Lecture : 2 minutes.
The largest industrial conglomerate in Nigeria, the Dangote group received a visit from investigators from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on January 4. Anti-corruption agency suspects Nigerian tycoon of involvement in financial crimes sous the Godwin Emefiele era, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria between 2014 and 2023 who is himself the subject of an investigation for corruption.
The search of the group’s offices in Lagos is, in fact, part of the of the investigations carried out by EFCC operatives into preferential foreign exchange allocations made by the former custodian of the Treasury of Nigerians. Active in the cement, fertilizer, sugar and soon hydrocarbons industry, Aliko Dangote is not l’unique target of the EFCC.
52 companies in the crosshairs
The Nigerian anti-corruption body is targeting a total of 52 Nigerian companies, including BUA, the direct competitor of Dangote Cement. Moreover, the group led by Abdul Samad Rabiu accused, last November, Aliko Dangote and his holding company of having benefited from illegal foreign exchange operations. Accusations refuted by the pan-African construction materials giant.
According to the EFCC’s accusations, these companies would have benefited from preferential exchange rates pour buy dollars at a discount so they can import raw materials and continue their operations. Indeed, until June 2023, the date of the ouster of Godwin Emefiele by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had multiple exchange rates.
Disgrace
Suspended as part of an investigation into the activities of the Central Bank, then arrested by the national internal security agency, Godwin Emefiele was released last December following paying a caution of more than 300,000 euros. The former Treasury guardian is suspected of serious embezzlement, including fraud in the award of public contracts.
Decorated Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) under Muhammadu Buhari, Godwin Emefiele never stops not with legal troubles since the new president came to power in May 2023. Short-lived candidate in the primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party once morest Bola Tinubu, he was once more pinned down by and recent investigation report on the management of the Central Bank. At the origin of the overhaul of the naira, the former governor of the CBN is accused of having brought to its knees the largest economy on the continent, in difficulty in recent latest years.
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