According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), gave his approval for N684,590,000, or N18.96 billion, to be printed.
This was a component of a new complaint filed at the Federal Capital Territory’s High Court.
The EFCC said in the Tuesday charge sheets that Emefiele violated the law with the intention of hurting the people when he carried out the former President Muhammadu Buhari’s currency swap program.
Emefiele was also charged by the anti-graft agency with illegally authorizing the removal of N124.8 billion from the Federation’s Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The EFCC’s top prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, filed a document dated April 2, 2024, with the case number, CR/264/2024. It stated that Emefiele will be charged with four new counts before Judge Hamza Muazu, which include ilegal money printing, abusing one’s position, and breaking the law to punish Nigerians.
“STATEMENT OF OFFENCE: Public Servant disobeying direction of law with intent to cause injury to the public contrary to and punishable under Section 123 of the Penal Code Law, Cap. 89 Laws of the Federation, 1990” is what counts one through four of the charge state.
The details of the offense are as follows: on October 19, 2022, in Abuja, you, Godwin IfEANYI Emefiele, knowingly disobeyed Section 19 of the CBN Act, 2007 by authorizing the printing of N375,520,000.00 pieces of color-swapped N1,000 at a total cost of N11,052, 068,062, without the Board of Central Bank’s recommendation and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s strict approval. Your actions caused harm to the public, and as a result, you committed an offense.
