Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday debited the accounts of Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Citibank Nigeria and Diamond Bank with a total N5.87 billion for alleged breach of its capital importation policy.
The apex bank debited the account of Standard Chartered Bank with N2.4 billion, Stanbic IBTC N1.88 billion, Citibank Nigeria N1.2 billion and Diamond Bank N250 million for allegedly issuing irregular Certificates of Capital Importation (CCI) on behalf of some offshore investors of MTN Nigeria Communications Limited.
MTN Nigeria was also directed by the CBN to refund $8.134 billion to its coffers.
The apex bank said its investigation was triggered by “allegations of remittance of foreign exchange with irregular Certificates of Capital Importation (CCI)” between 2007 and 2015, in “flagrant violation of extant laws and regulations of Nigeria, including the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1995 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Foreign Exchange Manual, 2006”.
Mr Isaac Okorafor, director of Corporate Communications, CBN, explained in Abuja last week that the actions became necessary after allegations of remittance of foreign exchange with irregular Certificates of Capital Importation (CCIs) issued on behalf of some offshore investors of MTN Nigeria Communications Limited and subsequent investigations carried out by the regulator in March 2018.
“The CBN has therefore asked the managements of the banks and MTN Nigeria Communications Limited to immediately refund the sum of $8,134,312,397.63, illegally repatriated by the company to the coffers of the Central Bank of Nigeria,” the regulator said in a statement.
According to Mr Okorafor, the investigation took a while so that the CBN can carry out “thorough inquiry and give fair hearing to all parties involved”.
He urged banks and multinational companies in Nigeria to adhere strictly to the provisions of all extant laws and regulations of the country in their foreign exchange transactions, warning that failure to do so would lead to sanctions.
