The report of the special investigation into the activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria has accused the immediate past governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele, of using ill-gotten wealth to acquire banks for himself through proxies.

 

According to the report, Emefiele used proxies to acquire Union Bank of Nigeria for Titan Trust Bank Limited, as well as Keystone Bank without any evidence of payment, Punch reported on Saturday.

 

As a result, it recommends that the Federal Government should reverse the sale of the banks and also take them over.

 

The special investigator, Jim Obazee, had on Wednesday submitted the report of his investigations into the acquisition of Union Bank and Keystone Bank to President Bola Tinubu in two separate letters dated December 20, 2023.

 

This is coming on the heels of findings by the investigator that Emefiele illegally lodged billions of naira in public funds in no fewer than 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom and China without the approval of the apex bank’s board of directors and the CBN Investment Committee.

 

Emefiele, who is currently in the Kuje Custodial Centre, is being prosecuted for N1.2bn procurement fraud.

 

Obazee, who was appointed special investigator in July, submitted his final report tagged, ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences)’ to the President on Wednesday.

 

He had earlier submitted an interim report on the probe of the CBN and related entities on December 9.

 

In his letters to the President, Obazee said he had completed his investigation into the illegal acquisition of Union Bank by Titan Bank, and was on the verge of recovering the two banks for the Federal Government.

 

He stated in his letter to the President, “When we carried out the investigation, we discovered that some persons were used as proxies by Mr Godwin Emefiele to set up Titan Trust Bank and acquire Union Bank therefrom, all from ill-gotten wealth.

 

“We were able to secure some documents and investigation reports will lead to the forfeiture of the two banks to the Federal Government. We have completed our investigation on this acquisition and have also held meetings with the relevant parties except for Mr Cornelis Vink, who is currently hospitalised in Switzerland.