EFCC Probes Dangote and 51 Firms Following Forex Scandal

On Thursday, members of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission visited the headquarters of Dangote Industries Limited in Ikoyi, Lagos, following the investigation of the alleged abuse of FX allocations by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

The anti-graft agency is investigating the alleged preferential forex allocations to the Dangote Group, which is owned by billionaire Aliko Dangote and 51 other companies under the Emefiele-led CBN.

However, two senior officials of EFCC who visited the HQ of Dangote Industries Limited declined to speak more on the issue.

One of the officials said, “I can confirm that our men are there, but I can’t comment on the reason for their presence there.”

Sources said the anti-graft commission had earlier written to the 52 companies directing them to provide documents supporting the allocation and utilisation of foreign exchange sold to them at official rates in the last ten years.

The EFCC had also asked the firms to submit Form A and Form M, which detailed the forex allocations between 2014 and June 2023.

But while some companies complied with the directive, several others failed to provide proper documents.

The appearance of the EFCC at the Dangote HQ was during working hours and slowed operations a bit as staff and visitors needed to be more comfortable with their presence.

The PUNCH reports that the operation by members of the EFCC lasted from about 3 pm and lasted for several hours.

During the raid, the operatives ransacked offices. They carted away several financial documents related to forex allocations to the group from 2014 to June 2023, when Emefiele was suspended from office by President Bola Tinubu.