Emefiele illegally opened 593 illegal bank accounts in UK, US, China – Investigation report

The immediate past Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Godwin Emefiele, illegally lodged billions of naira in about 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and China.

President Bola Tinubu’s Special Investigator, Jim Obaze, disclosed that Emefiele opened the bank accounts without the approval of CBN’s Board of Directors and Investment Committee.

Obaze disclosed that Emefiele deposited 543, 482,213 in fixed deposits in UK banks alone without authorisation.

This was contained in Obaze’s final report tagged, ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences)’ submitted to Tinubu.

The report reads partly: “The former governor of the CBN invested Nigeria’s money without authorisation in 593 foreign accounts in the United States, China and the United Kingdom while he was in charge.

“All the accounts where the billions were lodged have all been traced by the investigator, In the UK alone, Emefiele kept £543,482, 213 in fixed deposits without authorization by the CBN board and the Investment Committee of the bank.”

The former CBN governor is currently in Kuje prison after he was arraigned by the Nigerian Government for alleged N1.2 billion procurement fraud.

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, had granted him bail in the sum of N300m but he had failed to perfect it.