Emefiele Dismisses Investigative Findings, Labels Allegations as Satanic
Embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has faulted allegations of stolen funds against him in the recently released report of the Special Investigator on the CBN and Related Entities.
He explained his stance in a statement on Sunday titled, ‘Re: Emefiele, others stole billions, illegally kept Nigeria’s funds in foreign banks’.
Last week, the Special Investigator on the CBN and Related Entities, Jim Obaze, disclosed that the ex-CBN governor lodged £543, 482,213 in fixed deposits in UK banks alone without authorisation.
Obaze’s report partly read, “The former governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele invested Nigeria’s money without authorisation in 593 foreign bank accounts in the United States, China and the United Kingdom, while he was in charge.
Reacting in a statement on Sunday, Emefiele said, “After my release on bail from the correctional centre, Kuje, my attention was drawn to publications released by some mainstream and online news platforms. The sources of the information published by both media houses were credited to a certain report prepared by Mr Jim Obazee, who was appointed by the President as a private investigator.
I have gone through the publications, and I say boldly that the contents of the said publications are false, misleading and calculated to disparage my person, injure my character and serve the selfish interest of the private investigator.
Emefiele added, “Because of my present situation, I have been advised by my lawyers not to say anything in respect of the matters which have been submitted to the court for adjudication. However, I need to address some of the issues raised in the publication which are barefaced lies told by the investigator to achieve his satanic agenda.
I state categorically that I am not involved in the opening of these accounts and I do not know about their openings.
The fixed deposits in those foreign accounts are definitely outside my knowledge. However, let me state clearly, that the relevant departments of the CBN have the authority to carry out such activities in line with their lawful mandate within the CBN.
I therefore join well-meaning Nigerians who have spoken on this matter and have demanded a thorough and transparent investigation of all these alleged frauds.
