Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele allegedly spent N18 billion to print just N1 billion worth of banknotes, a fresh investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed.

The scandal revolves around the printing of one billion N100 banknotes and 5000 acrylic blocks for Nigeria’s centenary celebration in October 2014.

The report revealed that Emefiele bypassed the CBN board, and obtained approval from former President Goodluck Jonathan without following due process.

The contract, awarded to Swedish company Crane Currency on September 17, 2014, was inflated to $121,660,000.00 (N18,911,524,842.62). It is understood that the company supplies the CBN with banknote printing and other currency-related services.

An advance payment of $72,996,000.00 was made which is in breach of established practices. The report exposed that only $39,848,991.90 was transferred, with the balance of $32,716,050.00 converted to Naira and shared among top officials.

According to investigators, the withheld amount of $32,716,050.00 was converted to Naira and transferred to the Nigerian subsidiary of the Swedish company, totalling N5.3 billion. This amount is believed to represent the excess funds generated by the inflated contract, which was allegedly used to enrich top officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria and their accomplices.

As one investigator noted, “The contract was deliberately overpriced to benefit specific individuals within and outside the bank, resulting in a windfall of N5.3 billion.”

It is understood that N5.3 billion was initially distributed among the parties involved in the inflated contract.

However, the EFCC has since recovered N3,180,236,254.42 from those implicated in the scam. Despite this, there are reportedly efforts to pressure the EFCC Chairman to return the recovered funds to the accused individuals, who claim that the money was earned through legitimate means.

EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, has admitted that the agency is investigating the matter. However, he has refrained from providing additional information.

“At this stage, I cannot disclose further details as our team is still actively working on the case,” he said.