Crimes commission raids Dangote Group’s headquarters in Lagos

The Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday stormed the headquarters of the Dangote Group in connection with ongoing investigation into forex allocations in the country.

Penpushing reports that sources disclosed that the operatives on arrival at Lagos headquarters of one of Africa’s largest conglomerates demanded documents relating to allocation of foreign exchange to the group in the last ten years.

The sources added that thereafter the operatives then scrutinised the documents provided by officials of the group for hours, carting some of them away, adding that the commission had written to 52 companies directing them to supply documents supporting the allocation and utilization of foreign currencies to them in the last 10 years.

‘The Dangote people intimated the EFCC that the documents were ready and that they were bringing them over. But the EFCC said its operatives would rather come to the company to collect the documents’, the sources explained

‘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.

Penpushing further reports that the agency letter to the companies is part of ongoing investigation into alleged preferential Forex allocations to individuals and organisation by the Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) it is recalled had been accused by investigators in the past months of favouring and enriching some individuals and companies through non-transparent allocation of foreign exchange to them.

Penpushing also reports that the special investigators disclosed that the sum of 543.4 million pounds was kept by Emefiele in fixed deposit accounts, adding that the he (Emefiele) manipulated the naira exchange rate and committed fraud in the e-Naira project.

The sources added that while some of the companies the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) wrote to had since complied, others asked for more time to gather the information and documents.

Penpushing reports that the spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Dele Oyewale, however, declined comment on the matter, stating that he was at a meeting., while as at the time of filing this report the spokesperson for the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, could not be reached to comment on the said development.

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