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Missing N100bn Dirty Notes: SERAPS Tasks CBN Governor, Cardoso

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2 days ago

June 30, 2024

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Olayemi Cardoso has come under pressure over alleged Missing N100bn dirty Notes.

The pressure is coming off a charge by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) who is now asking Mr Cardoso to account for the said dirty notes.

SERAP tasks Cardoso “to account for and explain the whereabouts of the over N100 billion ‘dirty and bad notes’ and ‘other large sum of cash awaiting examination’ which are kept in various branches of the CBN.”

In a statement issued by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said the allegations are documented in the latest annual report recently published by the Auditor-General of the Federation.

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Besides, the project says the apex bank governor should also “explain the whereabouts of the N7.2 billion budgeted for the construction of the CBN Dutse branch in 2010 and the N4.8 billion budgeted for the renovation of the CBN Abeokuta branch in 2009, and to publish the names of the contractors who collected the money but failed to complete the projects.”

Other sums it raised include a N1.2 billion granted to the Enugu state government in 2015 and the outstanding loan of N1.9 billion granted to the Anambra state government between 2015 and 2016 and to fully recover and remit the public funds to the treasury.

“These grim allegations by the Auditor-General suggest grave violations of the public trust, the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution, the CBN Act, and national and international anticorruption obligations.”.

“These grave violations also reflect a failure of CBN accountability more generally and are directly linked to the institution’s persistent failure to comply with its Act and to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability.”

“These grave violations have seriously undermined the ability of the CBN to effectively discharge its statutory functions and the public trust and confidence in the bank. The CBN ought to be committed to transparency and accountability in its operations.”

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“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the CBN to comply with our request in the public interest”, SERAP threatens.

It added further: “Explaining the whereabouts of the missing public funds, publishing the names of those suspected to be responsible and ensuring that they are brought to justice and the full recovery of any missing public funds would serve the public interest and end the impunity of perpetrators.”

“According to the recently published 2020 audited report by the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has since 2017 been keeping over N100 billion [N100,672,999,000.00] ‘dirty and bad notes’, and other large sum of cash awaiting examination in various branches of the CBN.”

Suspecting the worst for the alleged missing N100bn dirty notes, SERAP added: the Auditor-General fears that the ‘dirty and bad notes’ initially planned to be destroyed may have been ‘be diverted and re-injected into the economy”, it said.