Naira Redesign: Emefiele Spent N1.7bn In Court – CBN Investigator Reveals

Godwin Emefiele, the embattled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has been accused by an independent investigation of spending more than N1.7 billion on legal fees for lawsuits brought against the currency redesign policy that was implemented during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

PUNCH reported on Friday that Emefiele paid dubious legal bills for 19 cases brought against the policy.

According to the investigation, Emefiele also used N1.325 billion for “stolen pre-incorporation,” and N300 million of the money went to a legal company, among four other companies.

An investment company was alleged to have illegally obtained N4.89 billion between 2015 and 2021.

According to a breakdown, the company was paid N2.62 million in 2015, N464 million in 2016, N550 million in 2017, N726 million in 2018, N762 million in 2019, N684 million in 2020, and N1.44 billion in 2021, for a total of N4.89 billion.

The claims went on to accuse Emefiele of additionally paying N17.2 billion to fourteen deposit money banks that were a part of the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Facility.

Eight states, including Kaduna, Kogi, Zamfara, Ekiti, Kano, and Ondo, were among those who launched an action against Emefiele over the policy, notwithstanding their disagreement with the dates for the nation’s use of old Naira notes.

The policy’s negative effects on residents’ lives, the deadline’s viability, and the policy’s constitutionality all contributed to the lawsuit.

In addition to the states, a lawyer from Lagos named Tope Alabi filed a motion with the Federal High Court in Lagos, asking permission to file a contempt lawsuit against the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for allegedly violating the Supreme Court’s rulings over the CBN’s currency redesign policy.

Emefiele is named as the only respondent in the lawsuit, and Alabi filed the application through an ex parte motion on March 27.

Calling the naira swap a “cash confiscation policy,” he explained that it had interfered with his staff’s ability to go to work every day because there was no physical cash on hand. He also mentioned that commercial drivers “do not have a point of sale device/machine to collect fares.”

The lawyer filed a 28-page affidavit in support of his application wherein he claimed that the Supreme Court on March 10, in Suit No. SC. 162/2023, “directed Emefiele to make available and allow the old naira notes of N200, N500, and N1000 to co-exist as legal tender with the new N200, N500, and N1000 notes till December 2023.”

“The respondent who had withdrawn N200, N500 and 1000 old notes from circulation on 10 February 2023 has refused to comply with the Order of the Supreme Court made on 10 March 2023 till date by releasing the old notes to circulation.”

The document also stated, “The CBN also went further by authorising the issuance of debenture for the NESI SPV, starting with N64.8bn in 2015. By 2021, N952bn debenture had been issued. The investigator said the money was diverted from public funds.’’

It was further gathered that Emefiele could be tried for alleged manipulation of the naira exchange rate, fraudulent implementation of the e-naira project, and exemption of three foreign firms from paying income tax.