Presidency Angry Over EFCC Raid On Standard Chartered Bank, AGF Set To Begin Probe

The office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation is set to probe the reported illegal raid of a commercial bank by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

About 20 operatives of the anti-graft agency had raided the Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos head office of the Standard Chartered Bank on 14th September.

The raid reportedly irked President Muhammadu Buhari and top officials of the administration who felt embarrassed that the headquarters of an international financial institution could be invaded in such manner.

A statement from the bank said EFCC agents “entered our head office building on 14th September 2018. We are clear there was no basis for this entry, and the law enforcement officials left the building shortly afterwards.”

Although the EFCC denied any of its operatives was involved in the raid, the denial did not satisfy the President who subsequently instructed the AGF to get to the bottom of the matter.

A highly placed source told THE WHISTLER that the Presidency is working on the theory that a fifth columnist seeking to embarrass the Buhari administration and discredit the anti-corruption fight may be behind the raid.

“This is why the President wants to get to the bottom of it and find out those who carried out such blatant act of illegality,” said the source

A statement by EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren said there was no raid on the bank by its (EFCC) officers, adding that the action could have been carried out by “errant officers” acting without authorization.

Uwujaren said the action was in flagrant violation of the standard operation procedures of the Commission which excludes such open raids of the offices of banks and other financial institutions.

The statement said officials of such institutions who are wanted by the commission, are usually invited for questioning after discreet investigation.

The commission said it will investigate the circumstances leading to the raid, and promised to discipline any of its officers found to be involved in the illegal act.

But the President was reportedly angered by the action and has called for an independent probe by the AGF.

The president was said to have condemned the illegal raid as capable of frustrating the drive for investments in the country-a reason administration officials suspected it may be the handiwork of political adversaries.

The AGF was reportedly instructed by the Presidency to investigate the raid with a view to identifying those involved and their motives.

Standard Chartered Bank and three other banks in the country were recently fined a total of N5.87 billion by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for alleged violation of extant laws and regulations of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, including the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1995, and the Foreign Exchange Manual, 2006.

They were accused of illegally repatriating funds on behalf of MTN Nigeria and the telecom company was directed to immediately refund $8,134,312,397.63 to the coffers of the bank.

Standard Chartered got the highest fine of N2,470,604,767.13 and the CBN has since debited the bank.