The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested one bank operations manager for hoarding N29m new naira notes in Abuja.
In a statement, the EFCC says the bank’s operations manager was arrested after refusing to load the new naira notes in the bank’s ATM.
“An Operations Manager of a leading Commercial bank in Abuja Central Area was on Monday, February 6, 2023, arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Commission, EFCC for refusing to load the Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, of the bank despite having N29 million of the redesigned Naira notes in the branch’s vaults.
“Before he was whisked away for further questioning, the operatives ordered the loading of all the ATMs and the payment of the stipulated amount across the counter to the delight of the distraught customers who had spent hours in queues without getting the new notes.
According to the statement, the arrest clearly shows that some banks are deliberately sabotaging efforts of the federal government and the CBN on ensuring the success of the naira redesign policy.
“This discovery, which indicates sabotage of the government’s monetary policy by some banks, was made by the EFCC in continuation of the ongoing surveillance and visit to banks across the country to access their vaults and verify whether they were deliberately refusing to dispense the redesigned Naira notes.
The statement adds that the EFCC is conducting similarly operations across the country.
RN