Former President Goodluck
Jonathan authorised the withdrawal of a whopping N67.2 billion in cash money
from the Central Bank of Nigeria between November 2014 and February 2015 for
“special services,” PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today.
The two cash withdrawals
were made in the build up to the 2015 general elections.
Our sources said even
more ‘curious’ large withdrawals were made from the bank during the period but
we were unable to obtain documents to authenticate the claims.
But highly classified
documents obtained by this newspaper, Friday, showed that at least N67.2
billion were withdrawn in cash from the banks in two tranches.
Insiders at the CBN said
the huge cash were carted away in bullion vans.
One of the withdrawals
was made through a memo which originated from the office of the former National
Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, allegedly based on Mr. Jonathan’s instruction.
The second memo was
generated by the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPIMS, a
subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
NAPIMS is in charge of
the Federal Government’s investments in the petroleum industry.
The first memo, dated
November 2014, contained a request for the withdrawal of $47 million cash out
of N10 billion earmarked for release for an unbudgeted “special services”.
In the memo with
reference number: NSA/366/S and titled: “Request for Funds for Special
Services,” an official from Mr. Dasuki’s office had drawn the CBN governor’s
attention to a previous discussion and requested the release of the said funds
by the bank.
The balance from the N10
billion, the memo directed, was to be paid out in Euro, while a certain
Director of Finance and Administration with the name S.A Salisu, was authorised
to sign and receive the haul of U.S dollars and Euro in cash, on behalf of the
NSA’s office.
“Further to our
discussion, you are pleased requested to provide the sum of forty seven million
United States Dollars (USD47, 000,000.00) cash out of the Ten Billion Naira
(N10, 000,000,000.00) and the balance in Euro to this office for special
services,” the memo read in part.
“Mr. S. A. Salisu,
director finance and administration is, hereby authorised to sign and collect
the amount. Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest
esteem,” the memo said.
It remains unknown what
the “special services”, for which the funds were removed, are.
Our sources claim they
were spent on “electioneering-related” matters. But that could not be
independently verified Saturday.
The second memo, raised
by NAPIMS, and dated February 25, 2015 conveyed an instruction to the director,
Banking and Payment System Department of the CBN to urgently pay in cash, the
sum of $289,202,382 (N57.2 billion) to the National Intelligence Agency, NIA.
“Upon receipt of this
mandate, please pay urgently the under-listed beneficiary the cash amount
indicated,” the memo said.
“Please debit CBN/JVCC
Foreign Account No. 000000011658360 with the JP Morgan Chase, New York… and
advise (sic) as soon as the payment is made.”.
The payment instruction
in favour of the NIA was signed by one Okonkwo Godwin, General Manager,
Finance, NAPIMS, with staff No. 18526, on February 25, 2015.
But sources from the CBN,
who cannot be named because they were not authorised to speak on the issue said
the funds were taken away at night with bullion vans under heavy security
cover.
When contacted, CBN’s
Director, Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Mu’azu, declined comment on the
report.
Mr. Mu’azu said he did
not have authority to speak to the media about the status of the bank
customers’ transaction details.
However, a senior
official, who asked not to be named, as he had no permission to speak on the
issue in his official capacity, said the bank has details of the transaction.
“My brother, the report
is true,” he told PREMIUM TIMES. “Every detail is on point. But, since they
claimed the withdrawal was for security services, anything could have been
referred to as such. Nobody knows.”
Mr. Jonathan could not be
reached for comments. One of his former spokespersons said he no longer speak
for the former President. Another said he was busy and could not speak on the
matter.
They all requested
anonymity, saying they don’t want to be associated with issues they know
nothing about.
Violating the law
The withdrawals of the
huge cash is a violation of Nigeria’s Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011,
which Mr. Jonathan personally assented to.
According to Part 1,
Section 1 of the law, “No person or body corporate shall, except in a
transaction through a financial institution, make or accept cash payment of a
sum exceeding- (a) N5,000,000.00 or its equivalent, in the case of an
individual; or (b)N10,000,000.00 or its equivalent in the case of a body
corporate.”
Section 16 (d) of the
Acts says anyone who makes or accepts cash payments exceeding the amount
authorized under this Act shall upon conviction be liable to a forfeiture of
25% of the excess above the limits placed in section 1 of the Act.
