ICPC Arrests Banks' Senior Officials for Hoarding CBN's New Naira Notes
- ICPC busted two banks and arrested senior officials for allegedly sabotaging CBN's effort to distribute new naira notes to Nigerians.
- The banks deliberately refused to upload the newly redesigned naira notes into their Automated Teller Machines (ATM).
- The officials have been taken into the custody of the ICPC for questioning as investigations continue.
PAY ATTENTION: Сheck out news that is picked exactly for YOU ➡️ click on “Recommended for you” and enjoy!
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has arrested a senior official of a popular bank in Abuja for allegedly sabotaging the CBN's effort to dispense new naira notes to Nigerians.
This was disclosed by the agency via its website and Facebook page on Friday, February 3, 2022.
The senior official was arrested by the anti-corruption agency for deliberately refusing to upload the newly redesigned naira notes into the branch's Automated Teller Machines (ATM) despite cries by customers over the last week.
Source: Facebook
The ICPC team which had been carrying out monitoring activities stormed the bank on Friday, February 3 at 1:30 pm to ascertain compliance with the CBNs directive only to find that cash was sitting in the bank vault and was yet to be dispensed to customers.
PAY ATTENTION: Сheck out news that is picked exactly for YOU ➡️ find the “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy!
The branch’s Head of Operations' explanation to the ICPC was that the bank had just taken delivery of the cash, but facts available to the agency showed that the bank took delivery of the cash a few hours earlier.
The ICPC's suspicion is that the bank for some malicious reason refused to feed the ATMs with cash. It went ahead to compel the bank to load the new notes into the ATMs and ensured they were dispensed.
The suspect was however taken into custody as further investigation is expected to follow.
Another bank senior official also arrested in Osun State
In another development, the ICPC team discovered a bank in Osogbo, Osun State where the ATMs were maliciously loaded with cash with their nylon wrappers still on them. This vicious act was to prevent cash from being dispensed in the ATMs.
The anti-corruption team ordered the bank to unwrap the naira notes and ensure dispensation to customers via ATM.
However, when the team arrived the following day for a follow-up inspection, they found that one of the ATMs was still loaded with cash bundles still wrapped up.
Subsequently, the ICPC took into custody, the bank's operations manager for questioning and investigations.
Don't be too fast to condemn banks - Banker
Reacting to the alleged malicious activities by some banks, Chukwuma Ezeokoli, a staff of Polaris Bank in Lagos told Legit.ng that processes need to be completed before the money is dispensed to customers. He said:
I'd advise Nigerians await for ICPC to conclude their investigations before condemning the banks. I work in the bank, so I understand the process that has to be completed from receiving money from CBN to actually dispensing to customers through ATMs or over the counter. It might have been that the monies were just received moments before the ICPC arrived at the banks.
Nigerians stranded as naira scarcity lingers across Nigeria
Despite the CBN governor insisting that it has sent out enough cash to all Nigerian banks to be dispensed to millions of customers nationwide, most Nigerians are still unable to access their monies.
In the last week, bank customers have besieged banking halls, ATM points and PoS stations in order to withdraw cash, but to no avail. Many have undertaken several crude measures to confront their respective banks in order to get access to their monies.
The situation degenerated on Friday to huge protests in some cities and the vandalisation of the properties of some banks in Oyo State.
Source: Legit.ng
