EFCC out to embarrass us – Dangote speaks
The Dangote Group has reacted to the visit of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to its headquarters in Lagos. The anti-graft agencies had demanded from the conglomerate records of forex allocations to it during the time of Godwin Emefiele as governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief, Branding and Communication of the conglomerate, said, in a statement on Saturday, that the company received EFCC’s request for details of every foreign exchange allocated to it from 2014 till date.
“We understand similar letters were sent to 51 other Groups of companies requesting for same information spanning same period.”
“On 4 January 2024, our team delivered the first batch of documents to the EFCC. However, officers of the EFCC did not accept the documents, insisting on visiting our offices to collect the same set of documents directly.
“Whilst our representatives were still at the EFCC’s office to deliver the documents, a team of their officers proceeded to visit our offices to demand for the same documents in a manner that appeared designed to cause us unwarranted embarrassment. Worthy of note is the fact that the officials did not take any documents or files from our Head office during their visit as these were already in their office.
“We must emphasize that, to our knowledge, no accusations of wrongdoing have been made against any company within our Group. At present, we are only responding to a request for information to assist the EFCC with their ongoing investigation.”
Stating its resolve to continue to play its key role in stimulating the “Our Group is a key contributor to the national GDP, the largest employer in the private sector, one of the largest groups listed on the Nigerian Exchange and one of the highest taxpayers in the country.
“We remain steadfast in our belief in Nigeria’s commitment to the rule of law and its dedication to fostering an environment conducive for investment and value creation for both local and foreign investors.”
