Nigeria anti-graft agency arrests over 20 bankers for currency fraud

What you need to know:

  • The arrests come just days after new President Muhammadu Buhari took office. The 72-year-old has pledged to crack down hard on endemic corruption in government at the highest level.

Nigeria's anti-corruption agency has arrested six senior officials from the country's central bank and 16 from commercial banks over alleged currency fraud, a spokesman told AFP on Monday.

"Six senior officials of the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) and 16 others from various commercial banks across the country were arrested over currency fraud," said Wilson Uwujaren.

The arrests come just days after new President Muhammadu Buhari took office. The 72-year-old has pledged to crack down hard on endemic corruption in government at the highest level.

Uwujaren, from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said the body was expected to charge the suspects with offences related to economic fraud in the coming days.

"They were expected to destroy some old and mutilated currency notes running into billions of naira but they fraudulently did not do so," he alleged.
AFP