The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested the operations manager of an Abuja bank branch.
The manager was arrested for hoarding the sum of twenty-nine million naira of the redesigned notes.
His arrest brought succour to scores of customers as the anti-graft agency directed the loading of money in the bank’s Automated Teller Machines(ATMs) and for payments to be made across the counter.
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According to the EFCC in a statement, it arrested the unnamed bank official in one of its operations.
The statement read:
“An operations manager of a leading commercial bank in Abuja Central Area was on Monday, February 6, 2023, arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Commission, EFCC for refusing to load the Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, of the bank despite having N29 million of the redesigned Naira notes in the branch’s vaults.
“Before he was whisked away for further questioning, the operatives ordered the loading of all the ATMs and the payment of the stipulated amount across the counter to the delight of distraught customers who had spent hours in queues without getting the new notes.
“This discovery, which indicates sabotage of the government’s monetary policy by some banks, was made by the EFCC in continuation of the ongoing surveillance and visit to banks across the country to access their vaults and verify whether they were deliberately refusing to dispense the redesigned Naira notes. More than five bank branches were covered today by the operatives in Abuja. Similar exercises are ongoing in zonal commands across the country.”
The commission hence called on Nigerians finding it difficult to access their funds at any bank and suspect foul play to contact it for immediate intervention.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) fixed February 10 as the deadline for swapping the old naira notes with the new ones.
However, both the new and old notes have been scarce–a development that led to the intervention of security and anti-graft agencies at the request of the apex bank.
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