SaharaReporters had reported how Cardoso claimed that the transactions were regarded invalid because they were created with a lot of malpractices and infractions.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Olayemi Cardoso has revealed that the apex bank had engaged the services of law enforcement agencies to probe invalid forex transactions amounting to $2.4 billion from the over $7 billion backlog he inherited from his predecessors.
SaharaReporters had reported how Cardoso claimed that the transactions were regarded invalid because they were created with a lot of malpractices and infractions.
In February, Cardoso said the apex bank had settled about $2.3 billion and it remained only $2.2 billion as the remaining valid backlog.
Giving an update on the situation while briefing journalists in Abuja after the 294th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, the CBN governor, said security agencies were investigating the FX transactions that had been declared invalid by the audit report.
Cardoso stated that law enforcement authorities will investigate concerns involving foreign currency transactions that did not fulfil the regulatory agency's standards, citing a Deloitte consultant report that found that the bulk of the transactions did not match the payment criteria.
He said, “Recall that when we came in September, we had a backlog of forward transactions which were contractual and which had already been contracted before we came in. It was clear to us that it was very important in the interest of the credibility of the central bank, which then was very much in question, we were able to satisfy and take care of these forwards.
“During a Senate hearing, I had actually made reference to this and said that this would be a priority to ensure that we take care of these forwards within the resource constraints we had. And that was why, on a regular basis, I tried to address the issue with the press and be as transparent as possible to allow Nigerians to know exactly where we stood and what we were doing.
“During that period we settled certain tranches and then we got wind of the fact that, well, there were several transactions which, quite frankly, had some issues concerning the genuineness of them. That was how we brought in Deloitte management consultants who took time, and this did take months. This is not something that happened overnight.
“We determined that a number of these transactions did not qualify. In some cases, we have some allocations made in millions of dollars, which were never requested; we also had somewhere they had no naira and they were also allocated some foreign exchange."
“It was for that reason that we refused to validate those particular transactions. Apart from the fact that documentation was not satisfactory, in many cases, they were outright illegal. The law enforcement agencies are now looking into those transactions that as far as we are concerned, are not valid to be paid.
“I would emphasise that if there’s any information to the contrary, we would in due course consider that. But as of today, that is exactly where it stands and the law enforcement agencies are taking a very hard look at those transactions. I will say again, that the valid transactions as far as the Central Bank of Nigeria is concerned have been taken care of,” he added.