The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Saturday revealed that it visited Dangote Group Headquarters in Lagos with a search warrant for some vital documents over details of foreign exchange allocated to it by the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2014 to 2023 during the tenure of former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele.
According to the Nation, The anti-graft agency stressed that the visit was justified because its operatives were able to get the vital documents they wanted as Dangote Group failed to provide them as requested.
While the commission pointed out that it has nothing against the company urged Nigerians to wait for the outcome of the investigation, Dangote Group in a statement, said no accusations of wrongdoing have been made against any company within its group.
It said the visit of the EFCC to its office was “designed to cause us unwarranted embarrassment.”
Following the allegation, EFCC sent a team of detectives to the head office of the firm last Thursday, just as it asked 51 other companies to submit forex allocation details, according top source in EFCC on Thursday.
The source said, “We demanded for some vital documents but Dangote Group was not forthcoming.”
“We did not storm or raid the office because we allowed staff, customers and visitors to go in and out of the place. The search was justifiable because our operatives got the vital documents they wanted on foreign exchange allocations to Dangote Group, “he said.
Speaking further, he noted, “As an anti-graft agency, EFCC will not join issues with Dangote Group but Nigerians should wait for the outcome of the ongoing investigation.
“No one or group can impede or delay investigation. We cannot be deterred, we will get to the roots of the forex allocations in 10 years.”
The management of Dangote Group, while making clarification on the issue noted that it delivered the first batch of documents to the EFCC and was “actively working to compile and submit the remaining documents, in good time, to aid their investigation.”
The company said, “Following the widely reported recent visit of the officials of the EFCC to our headquarters in Lagos on 4 January 2024, we understand the concern and interest this has generated among our valued partners, stakeholders, and the public, and consider it necessary to provide a factual account of the events.
“On 6 December 2023, we received a letter requesting for details of all the foreign exchange allocated to our company by the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2014 to the present.
“We understand similar letters were sent to 51 other Groups of companies requesting for same information spanning same period.
“We responded to the EFCC to acknowledge receipt of the letter whilst seeking clarification on the subsidiaries or companies within the Group that they required information on.
“We also requested for additional time to compile and properly present the extensive documentation spanning ten years.
“However, the EFCC did not provide the clarification sought and also did not honour our request for an extension and insisted on receiving the complete set of documents within the limited timeframe.
“Despite this constraint, we assured the EFCC of our commitment to providing the information and pledged to share documents in batches as we complete the compilation.
“On 4 January 2024, our team delivered the first batch of documents to the EFCC. However, officers of the EFCC did not accept the documents, insisting on visiting our offices to collect the same set of documents directly.
“Whilst our representatives were still at the EFCC’s office to deliver the documents, a team of their officers proceeded to visit our offices to demand for the same documents in a manner that appeared designed to cause us unwarranted embarrassment.
“Worthy of note is the fact that the officials did not take any documents or files from our Head office during their visit as these were already in their office.
“We must emphasize that, to our knowledge, no accusations of wrongdoing have been made against any company within our Group.” At present, we are only responding to a request for information to assist the EFCC with their ongoing investigation.”
The company added, “As a law-abiding and ethical corporate citizen, we remain committed to providing the EFCC with all necessary information and cooperation.
“We have already delivered the first batch of documents and are actively working to compile and submit the remaining documents, in good time, to aid their investigation.
“Our Group is a key contributor to the national GDP, the largest employer in the private sector, one of the largest groups listed on the Nigerian Exchange and one of the highest taxpayers in the country.”
The Special Investigator probing the apex bank, Jim Obazee, in his findings and recommendations submitted to President Bola Tinubu on December 9, 2023, had accused Emefiele and his team of serious mismanagement.
Listed among the allegations against him was manipulation of the foreign exchange rate, he was also indicted for fraudulent use of the Ways and Means to the tune of N26.6tn, inappropriate intervention programmes and questionable expenditures on COVID-19.
The findings reportedly prompted the EFCC into digging deeper into the foreign exchange deals, taking the operatives of the agency to the Lagos headquarters of the Dangote Group on Thursday.
