Anti-corruption agencies have began investigating the depositors of millions of old N500 and N1,000 notes at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Ilorin branch.
According to Daily Post, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, among others are on ground to supervise lodgments and educate depositors on the ramifications involved in depositing millions of naira with doubtful sources.
Depositors, thought to be fronting for politicians to lodge money on their behalf, are being educated by the anti-graft agency on their acts.
According to security sources at the CBN branch, depositors of millions of naira will need to contact their various commercial banks after one month, when the inquiry into their funding sources will have been completed.
The action was taken in response to suspicions that some politicians were using fronts to deposit millions of dollars on their behalf in connection with the ongoing new naira swap.
Further information was obtained including allegations of shady behavior by external officials involved in the exercise. Depositors of millions of naira are alleged to have paid at least N10,000 in bribes to ensure quick processing of their deposits.
Some depositors risk losing their deposits if they are ultimately unable to provide a proper accounting of their sources of income in response to an anti-graft agency probe, he added.
Some of the depositors who flocked to the CBN on Sunday, arrived with sacks of naira bills to deposit, per the apex bank’s instructions.
