. Says, no plans to convert Dom Account into Naira
By Stanley Onyeka, Lagos
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), yesterday, revealed it discovered about $2.4 billion invalid claims from the previously estimated $7 billion foreign exchange (FX) backlog following a forensic audit.
CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso, who made the disclosure in a pre-recorded interview on Arise TV, said the audit, conducted by Deloitte, revealed irregularities in the documentation and qualifications of the claimants.
He said the scam arose from various irregularities, including missing import documents, non-existent entities, and inflated requests, adding that the development has not only exerted immense pressure on the already struggling naira but has also impacted the FX market negatively.
Cardoso said: “We had reasons to believe we needed to take a harder look at these obligations. So, we contracted Deloitte Management Consultant to do a forensic of all these obligations and to actually tell us what was valid and what was not. Of course, we were committed to ensuring that we would pay all valid transactions.
“The result that came out of this was startling in a great respect; it was quite startling. We discovered that of the roughly $7 billion, about $2.4 had issues, which we believed had no business being there – and the infractions from that range from so many things.
“For example, not having valid import documents and in some cases, even entities that did not exist and in some cases, beneficiaries and account parties that asked for FX and got more than they asked for. And those who didn’t even ask for any and got. So, there were a whole load of infractions there, which I said amounted to about $2.4 billion out of the $7 billion headline figure.”
Accordingly, the Governor insisted that the CBN will not be paying such claims on account of these infractions.
He said that only genuine and verified claims will be settled, adding that the audit confirmed $4.6 billion to be legitimate, of which $2.3 billion claims were already cleared, while the balance of $2.2 billion will soon be addressed.
He said: “We are not paying if you don’t qualify; they are not validly constituted requests. And of the validly constituted ones, we have settled about $2.3 billion and that applies to the airlines and a whole load of different entities spread throughout our economy – we’ve settled that already,
“And now what remains is about $2.2 billion to be settled and I am confident that we will shortly be addressing those and be able to move on and make progress.”
The result that came out of this was startling in a great respect; it was quite startling. We discovered that of the roughly $7 billion, about $2.4 had issues, which we believed had no business being there – and the infractions from that range from so many things.
Domiciliary Account Holdings
Cardoso’s revelation comes as the CBN dismissed a news report alleging that the Federal Government is considering converting $30 billion domiciliary deposits to Naira.
It described the allegation as “absolutely false and aims to trigger panic in the foreign exchange market, which the CBN is working assiduously to stabilize, as evidenced by its recent work and policy directions.”
A statement signed by the Ag. Director, Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, noted that similar false narratives have been spread on the work of the CBN over the past few months, adding that “it is clear that vested interests are determined to sabotage our efforts.”
The statement reads further: “We want to assure the general public that CBN is working to build confidence and would never do anything to undermine the currency and the economy.
“We, therefore, urge all stakeholders to disregard stories aimed at causing panic in the system and see them clearly for what they are – acts of national sabotage.
“We wish to advise, in the strongest terms, against the peddling of false reports that have the potential to be disruptive to the economy.
“The Bank is the only designated authority for monetary policy changes and will always advise on any policy change(s) before they are brought into operation. The CBN is always open to answer questions about our policies.”
