Soludo innocent of bribery allegations, says EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared Chukwuma Soludo, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, innocent of complicity in an alleged scam involving the CBN, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) Plc and Securency Pty Limited of Australia.

Soludo, alongside other officials of the CBN and NSPM, was accused of accepting bribes to effectuate the change of some naira denominations from paper to polymer in October 2009.

The EFCC had been investigating the former CBN governor, and had invited him for questioning over the alleged crime, but Ibrahim Lamorde, chairman of the EFCC, on Monday said that investigations revealed he did nothing wrong.

“Soludo was cleared as no wrong doing was established against him by the investigation,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, he also called on members of the public to be cautious of the modus operandi of fraudsters in order not to fall victim.

Lamorde, who expressed concern over the rate at which vulnerable members of the public, especially youths, fall victim of all manners of fraud, said: “Many of our youths, desperate to get employment, have fallen into the hands of fraudsters who dupe them of the little cash at their disposal.

“Many agencies of government are targeted by syndicates of fraudsters who send out false notices of recruitment and go ahead to demand fees from unsuspecting members of the public to process their applications.”

He also used the opportunity to further warn politicians “not to drag the commission into political fray in their bid to garner political support ahead of the nation’s general election”.

That was in response to comments by some politicians in the last few weeks, imputing political motives to the activities the Commission.

Specifically, he noted with concern, the circulation of a fake letter purportedly from the office of the chief of staff to the president directing the commission to investigate some political figures which, according to him, was “unfounded and unfortunate”.

He added that news making the rounds that EFCC was planning to arrest leaders of a political party, as well as a fake letter in circulation claiming that it was investigating a former education minister, were false.

“I like to sound a note of warning here that the commission will no longer tolerate people dropping its name to further their political ends,” he said.

“EFCC is not a political body and will not allow itself to be dragged into political fray by desperate politicians. The EFCC does not need the prompting of anybody to open investigation against anyone that has violated the law, but it does the nation no good when politicians seek to use the name of the commission to further their political objectives.”