CBN denies involvement in N32bn Forex racket

Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has described as unfounded, allegations by a national daily newspaper that it engages faceless agents in foreign exchange racket pocketing over N32bn annually.
The newspaper had published on the frontpage a story on Monday, February 4, 2019 titled: “Exposed The Sleazy Face of N306/$, inside Nigeria’s racket where faceless agents pocket over N32bn annually”.
In a swift reaction to the allegations on Monday, the Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor, said, ” the management of the CBN wishes to react to the report wherein BusinessDay newspaper alleges that faceless agents in Nigeria are exploiting the country’s multiple exchange rates to devastating effects and allegedly with the backing of regulators.
“The CBN wishes to state unequivocally that this report is unfounded and untrue and challenges BusinessDay to provide the names and also verifiable evidence of collusion between these faceless agents and officials of the CBN, who are working to perpetuate these so called Fx racket schemes.
The apex bank accused the management of the newspaper of biased saying that it was not contacted prior to making “such spurious allegations, as we were denied the benefit of responding to this article.”
“The CBN wishes to remind BusinessDay, as most financial observers have noted, that the Fx rates across various markets governed and regulated by the CBN, have been converging, leaving no room for arbitrage opportunities in Nigeria’s Fx market,” Okafor stated.
For avoidance of doubt, the CBN spokesman said, the bank will continue to act in the best interest of Nigeria and shall ensure it remains focused on its core mandate of sustaining the stability in the FX market.