CBN Suspends Deputy Governor And Directors For Fraud

One of the three deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria is currently on suspension for being involved in ‘a sophisticated plot’ to defraud the bank a huge sum of money, findings by our correspondent have revealed.

Top officials of the CBN close to the development told our correspondent that two directors of the bank were also suspended over the multi-million naira scam.

The officials, who spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter, said their suspension was ordered by the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, after preliminary findings revealed that they might be culpable.

The CBN had on Thursday night said it had uncovered what it described as a highly sophisticated plot to defraud the bank by some people.

The bank said in a statement by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okoroafor, that while preliminary investigations had not revealed any accomplices within the bank, some personnel within the CBN had been placed on suspension.

The nature of the fraud was not specified in the statement.

It, however, said the need to place the officials on suspension was to allow for proper investigations by the relevant authorities.

The statement read, “A highly sophisticated plot to defraud the CBN by some criminally minded elements has been uncovered and aborted by the bank.

“Although preliminary investigations so far have not revealed any accomplices within the CBN, the management has decided to place all key personnel involved in the transaction on suspension.

“This is to ensure a full and unfettered investigation. This incidence has been reported to the relevant authorities.”

The CBN in the statement assured stakeholders in the banking sector that the security within the central bank remains intact and had not been breached.

Experts said the CBN as a regulator was being saddled with responsibilities that were related to that of commercial banking and, as such, made its system prone to corruption.

Economic and financial services expert , Mr. David Adonri, who is also Chief Executive Officer of Highcap Securities, said, “The CBN is a banker to the Federal Government; it is also in charge of the foreign exchange market; it is also in charge of regulating the banks.

“In some countries, those functions are separated. The CBN is allocating forex to banks. There have been lots of cries that some are favourerd while others are not favoured. This is something that can breed corruption. There are two ways to allocate scarce resources, namely administration and market. That of administration is not always effective in allocating scarce resources. It is only the market that can do a good job.”