Men of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday raided the headquarters of the Dangote Group in connection with the ongoing investigation into foreign exchange allocations in the country.
On arrival at the headquarters, Premium Times quoted an unnamed source as saying that the EFCC operatives demanded documents relating to allocation of foreign exchange to the group in the last ten years.
They were said to have scrutinised the documents provided by officials of the Group for hours and carted carting some of them away thereafter.
Premium Times further said the EFCC had written to 52 companies directing them to supply documents supporting the allocation and utilisation of foreign currencies to them in the last 10 years.
Our source said while some of the companies the EFCC wrote to had since complied, others asked for more time to gather the information and documents.
“But in a surprising move, the EFCC stormed Dangote headquarters on Thursday just as the company tried to surrender boxes of documents to the anti-graft agencies.
“The Dangote people intimated the EFCC that the documents were ready and that they were bringing them over,” a source familiar with the matter said.
“But the EFCC said its operatives would rather come to the company to collect the documents,” the source said
The source added that such Gestapo tactics by the EFCC could discourage foreign investors from coming to Nigeria.
“The Dangote Group is perhaps Africa’s largest conglomerate and it is troubling that the EFCC could deal with it in an unnecessary show of force especially when it is not obstructing its investigation in any form,” the source added.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr Dele Oyewale, declined comment on the matter, saying he was at a meeting. He did not answer or return subsequent calls made to him.
The spokesperson for the Dangote Group, Mr Anthony Chiejina, could not be reached to comment for this story.
