In its petitions
signed by Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni to the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related
Offences Commission, ICPC requesting for thorough investigations into the
monumental misappropriation and indiscriminate diversion of public funds by
political officeholders, the organization enjoined the anti-graft bodies to use
their good offices to ensure that justice is notably done by prosecuting
everyone linked to the disgusting act including the banks that participated in
the illegal transactions without fear or favour.
It
specifically noted that, “the CBN turned the blind eyes to corruption involving
high-ranking government officials, it continues to engage in anti-poor policies
such as introducing charges for use of Automated Teller Machine (ATM cards, and
threatening to send to jail economically and socially disadvantaged citizens
who use dollars for local transactions.”
“We implore you to use your good offices to
investigate the degree of complicity of Nigerian banks including the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and financial institutions in the large-scale stealing
of over N70 billions meant for purpose of arms for Nigerian soldiers fighting
Boko Haram in the northeast of the country.”
“This inconsistent and discriminatory approach
of penalizing the economically and socially disadvantaged citizens for minor
infractions while showing no concern about the over N70 billion stolen arms
purchase funds is unlawful as it is contrary to national and international
anti-money laundering standards and best practices.”
“SERAP
believes that the CBN cannot absolve itself of complicity in the stealing of
the over N70 billion and that this large-scale corruption would have been
prevented had the CBN been alive to its leadership and supervisory roles in the
implementation of anti-money laundering standards within its systems and in
other banks.”
The
organization therefore pleaded the Chairman of the EFCC Ibrahim Mustafa Magu,
and Chairman of the ICPC Ekpo Nta to “urgently institute a joint probe of the
roles played by the leadership of the CBN and other banks and financial
institutions in the stealing of over N70 billion arms purchase funds.”
It reads
further, “SERAP believes that the efforts to identify responsibility for the
heinous crimes committed against the Nigerian soldiers and their families
should include the roles that banks and financial institutions played by
aiding, abetting or failing to exercise due diligence to prevent the stolen
funds from being stashed in their institutions, and thereby exacerbating the
conflict in the Northeast.”
“SERAP
is seriously concerned about CBN’s commitment and ability to tackle high-level
official corruption especially given that it was the CBN that facilitated,
aided and abetted the emptying of the public treasury by the late General Sani
Abacha. The CBN should have learnt from this experience and not allowed without
questions the withdrawal of billions of naira within a short period of time by
former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), and former
Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.”
“The
CBN should have tightened up its systems after helping Abacha to steal billions
of dollars from our commonwealth. Dasukigate suggests that the CBN has taken no
action to improve its systems and due diligence.”
“By
allowing excessive withdrawals by Dasuki and Okonjo-Iweala, the CBN has helped
to fuel corruption in the arms purchase budget, and thereby contributed to the
unnecessary loss of lives of many Nigerian soldiers and displacement of
millions of law-abiding citizens.”
“The
CBN’s longstanding complicity in money laundering also explains why it has
failed to take action against domestic banks that are facilitating deposits of
stolen public funds by Politically Exposed Persons or to encourage appropriate
anticorruption agencies to pursue financial institutions abroad for their roles
in corruption and money laundering in Nigeria.”
“Unless
the CBN shows greater level of leadership and proactive supervisory authority,
and takes its responsibilities seriously, corrupt politicians and high-ranking
government officials will continue to find it easy to steal from the public
treasury.”
“The
EFCC and the ICPC now have the chance to send a clear message to the leadership
of the CBN and other banks and financial institutions that aiding and abetting
corrupt government officials to steal from the poor will attract personal
responsibility.”
“The
CBN ought to have blown the whistle, and filed reports with the appropriate
anticorruption agencies or other authorities. Assuming the CBN could not turn
down the requests for withdrawals, it should have followed and monitored the
spending of the funds. The CBN also should have been transparent in terms of
the amounts of returned stolen funds kept with it. Nigerians have the right to
know where stolen funds are being held and what they are being spent on.”
“Nigerians
have the right to know what roles the leadership of the CBN and other banks and
financial institutions abroad played in aiding and abetting the stealing of the
arms purchase funds.”
Among
other specific prayers filed by the organization to the anti-graft bodies
include;
1.
Name those within the leadership of the CBN that
facilitated the withdrawal and subsequent stealing of the arms purchase funds,
and ensure that anyone found to be responsible is brought to justice promptly
2.
Name and shame any banks and financial institutions complicit in
the arms purchase funds
3. Work with
the National Assembly and civil society to devise a system that will stop the
CBN being used by high-ranking corrupt government officials to steal from the
public treasury. It is unrealistic to expect that the CBN will ensure that
other banks have adequate systems in place to prevent the laundering of the proceeds
of corruption if its own systems are seriously flawed. And high-ranking
government officials will continue to exploit the CBN systems for their own
profit at the expense of the public
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