Probe panel accuses Emefiele, CBN officials of N22.7trn Ways and Means fraud

Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has been linked to a “fraud” case involving the ways and means.

Ways and means is a loan facility through which the CBN finances the government’s budget shortfalls.

Jim Obazee, special investigator probing CBN and related entities, disclosed this in a final panel report titled ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences)’, which he submitted to President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.

Obazee was appointed on July 30, 2023, by Tinubu as a special investigator to probe the activities of CBN under Emefiele.

After a five-month probe, the report said during Emefiele’s tenure, there was “fraudulent” use of Ways and Means advances by the CBN.

“In an instance, they (senior CBN and government officials) padded what the former President Muhammadu Buhari approved with N198,963,162, 187. There are instances where no approvals are received from the former president and yet, N500 billion is taken and debited to Ways and Means,” the panel said.

“There are more shocking instances where the erstwhile CBN governor and his four deputy governors connived to steal outright in order to balance the books of the CBN.

“This was by violently taking money from the Consolidated Revenue account and then charging it to Ways and Means. It was a total of N124.860 billion. They even created the narration as a presidential subsidy and expanded the Ways and Means portfolio to accommodate crime.

“The CBN officers and even the then acting CBN governor could not produce the presidential approval of most of the expenses described as ‘Ways and Means.’ When confronted, to provide the breakdown of the supposed N22.7 trillion that was presented to the 9th National Assembly to illegally securitise as ‘Ways and Means’ financing.

“They were only able to partially explain a total of N9.063 trillion or N9.2 trillion depending on which official you are considering his submission and an unreasonable attribution of non-negotiated interest element of N6.5 trillion.

“This shows that this was the point where the officers of the immediate past administration as well as the erstwhile CBN governor and his four deputy governors connived, defrauded, and stole from the commonwealth of our country with the aid of civil servants.

“The true position of the Ways and Means as documented from the reconciliation between the CBN and the ministry of finance at the time is N4,449,149,411,584.54.

“This may have been the main reason the past administration hurriedly sought that the advances of N22.7 trillion be securitised by the 9th national assembly on December 19, 2022, which they also hurriedly did despite the fact that it contravenes section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007.”

The report revealed the liaising of top officials at the apex bank, some high-ranking government officials, including a minister — all of whom have been recommended for trial — indulged in the “fraudulent” use of ways and means, which stood at N26.627 trillion.

‘UNAPPROVED NAIRA REDESIGN GULPED N31.79BN’

According to the document, Emefiele is likely to be charged for illegal issuance of currency under section 19 of the CBN Act alongside Tunde Sabiu, a former aide to Buhari, and 12 top directors of the CBN.

Obazee said the naira redesign plan was not approved by Buhari as required by law.

He said the idea was initiated by Sabiu who first informed Emefiele in September 2022.

On October 6, 2022, Emefiele wrote to Buhari that he wanted to redesign and reconfigure N1000, N500 and N200 notes.

“The former President tagged along but did not approve the redesign as required by law. Buhari merely approved that the currency be printed in Nigeria. The redesign was only mentioned to the board of the CBN on December 15, 2022, after Emefiele had awarded the contract to the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM) on October 31, 2022,’’ the panel said.

However, when NSPM said it could not deliver the contract within a short timeframe, Emefiele contracted the redesign of the naira to De La Rue of the UK for £205,000 under the vote of the head of the currency operations department.

The special investigator found that N61.5 billion was earmarked for the printing of the new notes out of which N31.79 billion had been paid.