750M Bribery Scandal : Soludo Quizzed

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday interrogated and detained the immediate past Governor of Central Bank, Professor Chukwuma Soludo in Abuja.

Commission’s media unit confirmed his presence at the commission.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for 2010 governorship election in Anambra State was reportedly invited by the commission over the alleged bribery case involving the printing of N5, N10, and N20 during his tenure at the bank.

A very top source within the commission told the Nigerian Tribune that Soludo honoured the commission’s invitation and was quizzed for several hours.

He was said to have arrived the commission’s office at about 2 pm and when the Nigerian Tribune called the media unit of the commission a few minutes to 7.00 p.m., he was reportedly still under interrogation.

When the top source was asked if he would be released on administrative bail yesterday night, our correspondent was told that “you can be rest assured that by the time your story is out tomorrow, he would still be here. So if you wrote that he was released on administrative bail last night, then you would be feeding the reading public with incorrect information.”

A media unit source further stated that “he was invited and he appeared today. He is still with us and we are together. He is undergoing interrogation. If you check the time now (6.41 p.m.), you can guess how long he has been with us because he came in the afternoon during the working hours.”

“We asked him to come and explain his roles in the activities surrounding the bribery allegations on the printing of those notes. The case for which he was invited is about the Australian currency mint company, Securency, that handled polymer banknotes and what transpired in the course of printing those notes.”

It was gathered that a couple of former and serving CBN officials were also being interrogated over the alleged bribery deal.

When contacted, EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren was said to be in a crucial meeting.

A group, HEDA Resource Centre had petitioned the commission, demanding an investigation into the alleged currency scandal between 2006 and 2008.

The group’s chairman, Akaninyeme Enzina was invited by the commission on August 22, 2012 to defend the petition which was dated May 23, 2012.

HEDA’s petition had demanded the investigation and prosecution of serving and retired government officials indicted in the alleged scandal which stemmed from the printing of polymer Naira notes during the tenure of Professor Soludo at the Central Bank of Nigeria between 2006 and 2008.

The petition charged both the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to undertake this investigation and prosecution as empowered by laws establishing both institutions.