Law enforcement agencies are currently investigating a series of invalid foreign exchange transactions valued at $2.4 billion, according to Yemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This announcement came to light during the press briefing that followed the 294th session of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja on Tuesday.
The investigation targets a slew of transactions that failed to meet the regulatory criteria set by the CBN for foreign exchange allocations.
Cardoso detailed several anomalies, including the allocation of millions of dollars in FX to requests that were never made, and allocations provided without the corresponding naira support. He pointed out the lack of legality and satisfactory documentation in these transactions.
Cardoso underscored the serious nature of these irregularities, describing many of the transactions under scrutiny as “outright illegal.”
He said:
While the investigation is underway, the CBN Governor also noted the bank’s awareness of stakeholders potentially impacted by backlogs. He emphasized efforts made by the CBN to maintain an open, transparent, and liquid market, encouraging stakeholders to utilize available markets to manage their backlogs.
