By Ken Afor
The headquarters of the Dangote Group was raided by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday.
This action was taken as part of an ongoing investigation into forex allocations in the country.
According to sources, upon reaching the conglomerate’s headquarters in Lagos, the EFCC operatives requested documents pertaining to the group’s foreign exchange allocation over the past decade.
The officials of the Group meticulously examined the documents given to them for several hours, taking some of them with them.
According to reports, the EFCC sent letters to 52 companies instructing them to provide documents that verify the allocation and usage of foreign currencies over the past decade.
The EFCC’s correspondence with these companies is a component of an ongoing inquiry into purported preferential Forex allocations to individuals and organizations by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele.
The CBN has recently come under scrutiny for allegations of favoritism and unjust enrichment through opaque allocation of foreign exchange to certain individuals and companies.
However, in a previous report by PREMIUM TIMES, it was revealed that a forensic audit of the CBN led by Mr. Emefiele uncovered 593 bank accounts in the US, UK, and China where Nigerian funds were deposited without proper authorization from the board and investment committee of the apex bank.
The investigation further disclosed that Emefiele had maintained 543.4 million pounds in fixed deposit accounts and had manipulated the naira exchange rate, as well as engaged in fraudulent activities related to the e-Naira project.
According to sources, although a few of the companies that received letters from the EFCC have already complied, others have requested additional time to collect the required information and documents.
However, in an unexpected turn of events, the EFCC unexpectedly arrived at Dangote headquarters on Thursday, precisely when the company was attempting to hand over boxes of documents to the anti-graft agencies.
“The Dangote people intimated the EFCC that the documents were ready and that they were bringing them over,” a source familiar with the matter told the outlet. “But the EFCC said its operatives would rather come to the company to collect the documents.”
The EFCC’s employment of such Gestapo tactics, as reported by the source, may deter potential foreign investors from considering Nigeria as an investment destination.
“The Dangote Group is perhaps Africa’s largest conglomerate and it is troubling that the EFCC could deal with it in an unnecessary show of force especially when it is not obstructing its investigation in any form,” the source added.
