President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, says that the visit to his Lagos office by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in January, was intented to embarrass his company.
The EFCC had claimed that the visit was part of a probe into alleged preferential allocations of forex to the Dangote Group and 51 other companies under the Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria.
But speaking in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Dangote stated that the EFCC operatives didn’t talk to anybody during the visit, neither did they arrest anyone, declaring that, "It was just to cause embarrassment."
Dangote meanwhile maintained that despite the challenges, their operations remain “100 per cent clean,” given their significant role in Nigeria’s economy.
He also emphasized his company’s reputation as the highest-paying organization in Nigeria, adding that Dangote Group pays more taxes than the banking sector.
The EFCC had earlier written to the 52 companies directing them to provide documents supporting the allocation and utilisation of foreign exchange sold to them at official rates in the last 10 years.
The commission had asked the firms to submit Form A and Form M which detailed the forex allocations to them between 2014 and June 2023.
But while some companies complied with the directive, several others were said to have asked for time to get the proper documents.
However, a Dangote official claimed the firm had honoured the EFCC’s request and wondered why the commission chose to embarrass them.
“We don’t know why they (EFCC officials) came to our office again; we had earlier been invited to the office of the EFCC. As such, the Dangote officials took along all the documents and submitted them. We don’t know why they eventually decided to visit our office again.
“The question we are asking is what did they come to take from our office when we had honoured their invitation? They left with empty hands because all the documents they wanted from us had been taken to them. The same EFCC that came to our office is the one giving information to the media that they are investigating us,’’ the official said.
Before the raid, Dangote Industries had in November 2023 refuted allegations that it was involved in forex malpractices and money laundering involving a staggering $3.4bn allegedly facilitated by Emefiele.
It denied the claims that the money was funnelled to its non-Nigerian subsidiaries, prompting illicit financial flows and round-tripping.
The company referred to past approvals granted by the CBN between 2010 to 2018, allowing it to purchase forex totalling $3.755bn for funding of its projects across Africa, of which only 47.70 per cent was utilised.
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