Emefiele Sues Investigator, Denies Opening 593 Foreign Accounts

The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, has described the report of the Special Investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu, which indicted him as satanic, baseless, defamatory and false.

Emefiele, in a statement on Sunday, said he had instructed his lawyers to immediately commence legal process to clear his name from the defamatory statements contained in the report.

One of his lawyers, Maxwell Okpara, who released the statement to newmen, confirmed that it was issued by the former CBN governor.

The Special Investigator, Jim Obazee, in the documents obtained by journalists, had, among other allegations, accused Emefiele, of opening 593 foreign bank accounts without the approval of either President Muhammadu Buhari or CBN’s board of directors.

The investigator, in the report which was reportedly submitted to President Tinubu last Wednesday, had said the accounts were in different banks in the United Kingdom, the United States and China, especially £543.4 million pounds in fixed deposits in UK banks alone.

The investigator, according to the documents, had also claimed that the recent naira redesign was not expressly approved by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The erstwhile CBN governor said he handed over Buhari’s approval to Obazee during his investigation in the presence of senior CBN officials and the investigator’s team.

Emefiele, who stated that he had gone through the publications, said the contents therein were false, misleading and calculated to disparage his person, injure his character and serve the “selfish” interest of the private investigator.

On the issue of the 593 accounts which were purportedly opened in different parts of the world, he stated categorically that he is not involved in the opening of these accounts and does not know about their openings.

He also explained that the relevant departments of the CBN have the authority to carry out such activities in line with their lawful mandate within the CBN.

He, therefore, joined well-meaning Nigerians who have spoken on the matter and have demanded a thorough and transparent investigation of all these alleged frauds.

Meanwhile, Emefiele also confirmed that he has instructed his lawyers to immediately commence the legal process to clear his name from the defamatory statements contained in the report and by extension the publications.