By Ayo Yusuf
There are indications that the team of special investigators set up by President Bola Tinubu to probe the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and related entities may unveil the biggest financial fraud in the country’s history.
Already, the team which now has amongst its membership some of the nation’s top auditors and forensic detectives has reportedly unraveled a litany of fraud estimated at some N7 trillion.
According to a source close to the investigation, “The amount involved could be much more, but so far not less than N7 trillion has been uncovered. It is an ongoing exercise. Daily, more facts are being uncovered in the mind boggling crimes committed by individuals saddled with the responsibility of managing the nation’s economy.”
Mr. Obazee has reportedly set up a formidable team whose members have intimidating credentials in fraud investigation, forensic audit, banking and international finance.
Some had worked with the CBN previously in different capacities, including consulting, and are thus familiar with the operations of the apex bank.
The team’s original mandate was to investigate the activities of the Central Bank under the suspended governor, Godwin Emefiele, but preliminary investigations uncovered a web of fraud that had grown during the past nine years when Mr. Emefiele held forth at the apex bank.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu appointed former Chief Executive of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) and forensic auditor, Jim Obazee “Special Investigator” of the CBN and related entities in July.
Although the terms of Mr. Obazee’s engagement were not made public, the President had pointedly attached Mr. Emefiele’s suspension letter to the appointment letter given to the former FRC boss.
The team has since spread its tentacles across the financial system and many executives of CBN’s consulting firms have been arrested and granted bail while top officials of the bank continue to be interrogated.
Recently, two deputy governors of the CBN – Kingsley Obiora and Aisha Ahmad – were detained by the Department of State Security in connection with their roles in the affairs of the bank during Mr. Emefiele’s nine-year stint.
Fresh updates from multiple sources knowledgeable about the operations suggest that the team is currently analysing documents, memos and oral confessions that could lead to more arrests in the coming days.
TheNewDiplomat gathered that there is rising anxiety in CBN offices across the country as some directors “who must have played active roles in approving some of the deals” are being interrogated.
There are also fears that other individuals will be arrested in the coming weeks as the panel hurries to conclude its work and submit a report on “how the financial system was mismanaged and the regulations compromised, to enable the President to decide on what to do to clean up the system”.
It would be recalled that during his inaugural speech, President Tinubu promised a housecleaning at the regulatory bank. Weeks later, Mr. Emefiele was suspended and arrested for alleged multiple offences.
The President was later to describe the financial system Mr. Emefiele supervised for almost a decade as “rotten”.
There are indications that Mr. Obazee’s panel will soon reveal to the world just how rotten the system is.
Top bank owners and their cronies serving as chief executives are said to be actively connected with the rot and have been running helter-skelter to insulate themselves from the investigation.
However, the special investigator has a reputation for snubbing such influences as could be gleaned from his days at FRC where he reportedly snubbed bank chief executives who attempted to bribe him to secure approval for non-compliance financial statements.
Known as the “Super Regulator” among denizens of the country’s financial system, Mr. Obazee and his team are reportedly facing pressure from the corridors of power, including the Presidency, to backpedal on some transactions.
Sources claim that individuals who are close to the presidency are making covert and subtle moves to limit or influence the works of the panel.
TheNewDiplomat learnt that the investigation which is non political and patently impartial may potentially rope in some of the political and business associates of the President and this is already giving some people nightmares.
However, President Tinubu has reportedly told the team to get the job done no matter whose ox is gored and the panel is emboldened to continue its job.
Names of top politicians and business moguls are said to be among the possible culprits in the emerging saga, as dossiers of sleazy deals that could send dozens to jail get compiled.
Sources say disbursements through different intervention programmes of the CBN and foreign exchange management are central to the investigation.
There are talks of intense pressure on the investigators to receive bribes from people “ready to buy anybody” in their desperation to get off the hook.
TheNewDiplomat also learnt of cases of evidence destruction within and outside the CBN offices, from the moment Mr. Emefiele was arrested.
This is said to have slowed down the investigations and made the efforts to establish how some of the frauds were perpetrated more difficult.
Anxiety over the extent of the investigation is spreading fast in the financial space as Nigerians wait for the report of the probe.
“In the coming weeks, heads will roll across the board. The level of rot seen in the system could not have been perpetrated by one man. If that is the case, those who work with him could not have been angels. I don’t know the scale of sanction that will follow but I can tell you that a lot of people will not go unpunished,” a source was quoted in a report published by The Guardian on August 4, 2023.
