Exchange Rate: FG suspects sabotage, probes CBN, banks, BDCs
The Federal Government has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other security agencies to investigate and confirm information available to it that the instability in foreign exchange rates was caused by saboteurs The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Ababakar Malami (SAN) who disclosed this on Wednesday at a press briefing in Abuja said that Financial Regulators, Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Banks, Bureaux- de-change (BDCs) and some top business men who allegedly failed in their duties or diverted foreign exchange are the main target of the investigations.
He said that it is apparent that “our national currency is being deliberately undermine through carefully- orchestrated criminal conspiracies and manipulation by unscrupulous elements hiding under the cloak of so called ‘Market forces’. “As a responsible government, we cannot afford to allow such a situation anchored on unlawful Alliances and criminal enterprise to continue unchecked, when it is apparent that its primary objective is to sabotage the economic agenda of the present administration.” Malami assured that all persons indicted will be prosecuted under the extant financial laws. Malami said the circumstance in which the perpetrators of the crimes have operated does not require further warning but an outright prosecution.
“In the exercise of the powers of my office, and in consonance with the policy thrust of this administration to have a zero-tolerance level for corruption, I have therefore directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other relevant security agencies to further investigate and confirm the information already available to government,” he said. He said that in the light of the economic realities, it is apparent to all objective and discerning observers that there is urgent need to review the foreign exchange market from the perspective of the degree of compliance with extant laws and regulations due to certain disturbing developments which increasingly are confirming the initial suspicion of government that the current state of the Naira is not the result of neutral factors.
He alleged that the saboteurs having failed to force the devaluation of the Naira “certain forces have now aligned to create an artificial currency situation to undermine the economic programme of Buhari administration “We are now witnessing manipulative and coordinated speculative activities in the foreign exchange market leading to the current wide differential between the official rate at the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Parallel rate, in a manner that defies national economic analysis,” he said.
He said that the artificial differential between the two currency exchange rate is being exploited by unscrupulous individuals and institutions who he also accused of engaging in sharp practices and rent seeking activities. He said that they include non-repatriation of export proceeds, use of foreign exchange for non-eligible purposes, rendition of false foreign exchange utilization data, round-tripping of foreign exchange sourced from interbank Market, consumption of foreign exchange transactions with inadequate, expired or forged documents.
