The Dangote Group has debunked allegations of getting unapproved foreign exchange allocations during the tenure of the embattled ex-governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday visited the company’s headquarters in Lagos and conducted a search. It is probing the foreign exchange allocations made to about 52 companies, including Dangote Group, during Emefiele’s time as CBN boss.
The group issued a rejoinder on Friday, describing the allegations as “baseless, malicious and unfounded”.
Dangote Group recalled that the organisation was alleged to have in 2016 been probed over illegal foreign exchange deals and money laundering running to $3.4 billion under Emefiele’s watch.
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The group said it was baffling to see recently a fresh false slant by another character, Ahmed Fahad, flying a new petition, drawing the attention of President Bola Tinubu and special investigator, Jim Obazee, as well as deploying some blogs and social media platforms to give the accusation wider reach, all to the “detriment of its corporate reputation”.
Dangote Group said it secured the CBN approval to source foreign exchange from the interbank market to fund the construction of its plants.
The group specified that the CBN gave approvals between 2010 and 2018 to purchase $3.755 billion from the interbank market for the funding of its various African projects, out of which it has utilised only “47.7 percent of the approvals in the total sum of N1.791 billion”.
While stressing that it remains the highest employer of labour in Nigeria outside the government, as well as the highest tax paying company in the country, it reiterated that as a focused group, it has invested more than any local and international investors in Nigeria.
Dangote Group said its rejoinder was an attestation “to its openness and transparency in the conduct of all its businesses and operations”.
