EFCC summons Dangote officials over forex transactions

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has summoned some officials of the Dangote Group to Abuja over foreign exchange transactions by the company.

The officials of the Dangote Group, owned by Aliko Dangote, were directed by the EFCC to appear at the office of the anti-graft agency in Abuja on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, with detailed documents on forex transactions by the company covering the last nine years.

The Star had reported that the EFCC operatives, on Thursday, January 4, raided the head office of the Dangote Group in Lagos over forex transactions with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

It was gathered that the EFCC officers are searching for forex allocations to Dangote Group during the tenure of Godwin Emefiele as the CBN Governor.

Some officials of the EFCC, who spoke to The Star on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the anti-graft is probing the utilisation of forex made available to Dangote for the refinery project.

Another source disclosed that several other companies are being probed over the forex transactions.

It was however gathered on Friday that the EFCC operatives carted away some documents from Dangote’s head office on Thursday, but they did not cover all the transactions, hence the decision to summon the officials to bring the documents to Abuja on Tuesday.

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A senior official of the anti-graft agency said some senior executives of Dangote Group had been mandated to supply the commission with what he called “detailed and unambiguous documents on the demands by the commission”.

“They (Dangote officials) asked for time to enable them to get all the necessary documents, which was granted. The idea is not to be seen to be witch-hunting anyone.

“What the commission wants is to get evidence and details of how government funds were allocated and that is all,” the EFCC official told Punch.

An official of the Dangote Group also confirmed that some officials of the company were currently gathering the documents requested by the EFCC to clear the company of any wrongdoing.

The source noted that the firm had sent some documents and key members of staff to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja in respect to the ongoing investigation, adding that it was shocked that the anti-graft agency still stormed its office in Lagos on Thursday.

The source said: “As of the time of the raid, our people were in Abuja. We have been sleeping in the office to make sure that we get all the documents the EFCC requires for the investigation.

“We are talking about documents from 2014 to June 2023. It is a lot of documents and it will take time to get all of them readily available. We have, however, sent the ones we have at our immediate disposal and they are with the commission.

“The raid was just a way of embarrassing us and an act of show-off. We are law-abiding people running a legitimate business and we are cooperating with the investigation.”

The source further disclosed that Dagote was in the United States and was worried about the development.

The Star