CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele
Commercial banks in the country are
raking in millions of dollars from a foreign exchange racketeering which
has been fuelled by the acute shortage of hard currency in the economy,
investigation by the Saturday PUNCH has revealed.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has been
rationing forex to prospective importers in the past 16 months, after
the global fall in the prices of crude oil, the nation’s main forex
earner.
The situation has exacerbated over time
and tens of thousands of applications for forex by intending importers
have been kept on hold by the CBN for months.
Sources close to the forex racketeering
said the dollar shortage had led to a situation where prospective
importers apply to the CBN through their banks for forex for months
without getting it.
The continued acute scarcity, it was
learnt, had been capitalised upon by the commercial banks who are now
selling several millions of dollars obtained from the CBN on their
clients’ names at huge premiums above the N199 to $1 official rate
approved by the central bank.
According to sources familiar with the
situation, thousands of helpless importers who are in desperate need of
forex to import products ranging from raw materials to equipment are
milked on weekly basis by the greedy banks.
Findings by our correspondent showed
that the scheme, which has been on for several months as the forex
scarcity worsens by the day, has made many top bank executives
multi-millionaires overnight.
Out of about $10m to $25m (depending on
the volume of demand by its customers) sold by the CBN to commercial
banks in some weeks, illegal profit to the tune of $5m could be made by
each of the banks involved in the forex racketeering.
A prospective importer, who was recently
approached by a major bank in the country involved in the forex
racketeering, told our correspondent that many importers had no choice
but to buy the scarce forex from the banks despite the huge and illegal
premiums being made by them.
Narrating his ordeal to Saturday PUNCH,
the importer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, for fear of
being victimised by the bank, said, “We need $295,000 to import some
equipment. We have been on the so-called CBN queue since October. The
bank said no forex. Recently, the bank called us that there was forex
but not at the official rate. They wanted to sell to us at N275 to $1.
Out of about N81m we are to pay, only about N59m goes to the CBN, which
is the official rate. The balance goes to the bank officials who get
this allocation from the CBN. This is the type of stupid money they make
now, God saves Nigeria.”
Explaining further, the visibly angry
importer said, “The bank’s officials said they had $5m as of January 29.
So calculate how much they made for that week alone.”
The forex racketeering victim said the
bank officials had told him that the difference between the CBN rate of
N199/$1 and the N275 to the dollar rate they were offering him would be
paid through a cheque written on a name to be provided by the officials.
He added, “The bank will debit my account at the CBN rate and then I will give them a cheque for the balance.”
Another importer, who shared a similar experience, told Saturday PUNCH that his own bank offered a deal of N285 per dollar.
Further findings by our correspondent
revealed that commercial banks were carrying out the forex racketeering
through various means depending on the method through which a
prospective importer is planning to make payment to its prospective
supplier overseas.
Normally, payments are made for imported goods through open accounts, Letters of Credit, and Bills for Collection.
For items that are not valid for forex
(i.e items the CBN has excluded from the list of items it provides forex
for), payments are usually made through open accounts.
Letters of Credit (a kind of guarantee
for payment) are usually written by Nigerian banks to their
correspondent banks overseas on behalf of an importer, while Bills for
Collection involve a situation where the supplier releases the goods to
the importer and payments are made later. In any of the latter two
cases, importers or companies are required to get forex from the CBN
which will be transferred into the bank accounts of their suppliers
overseas by their commercial banks in Nigeria.
It was learnt that a whole lot of forex
racketeering involving opening bank accounts overseas by bank officials
and importers alike was now in place.
When contacted, the CBN Director of
Corporate Communications, Mr. Ibrahim Mu’azu, said there was the need
for aggrieved customers and importers to lodge a formal complaints with
the CBN over the matter, adding that this would enable the central bank
to commence thorough investigation into the matter.
“The regulatory authority can only know
when there are complaints. If there are complaints, the CBN will
investigate and rescue the situation,” Mu’azu said.
But economic, financial experts and
ex-bankers said the CBN and commercial banks were culpable, noting there
was the need for the duo to introduce mechanism to arrest the huge
fraud.
An economist and Chief Executive
Officer, Cowry Assets Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, said the
CBN could be held responsible for the sharp practices.
Chukwu, who is a former banker, said,
“Human beings are economic agents and they will always be tempted to
follow the easy path. But the regulatory authority must not create the
loophole for such. The premium between the official exchange rate and
the parallel market rate is too much.”
An Economist and Head, Investment and
Research, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, an investment bank and research
firm, Mr. Ayodeji Ebo, also said there was the need for the CBN to come
up with a policy to close the huge gap between the naira-dollar
exchange rate on the parallel and official forex markets, adding that
the difference would continue to breed round-tripping and all manner of
unethical practices.
He added, “Commercial banks also need to
strengthen their internal controls both at the head office level and
branch levels. Most of these forex racketeerings are carried out only in
some bank branches without the knowledge of the head office or even top
officials at the branch level. So, the banks need to do something
quickly about this.”
The Head, Investment Advisory, Sterling
Capital, an investment bank, Mr. Sewa Wusu, believes the CBN is making
efforts to stabilise the forex market, noting that issues coming in
recent times would be addressed soon.
Meanwhile, the CBN has asked banks to start publishing their returns on the utilisation of the forex in the newspapers.
This, it was learnt, was part of the measures by the CBN to check sharp practices in the forex market.
For the first two weeks of February,
Stanbic IBTC Limited with a total of $23,615,680.90 reportedly emerged
the highest amount of forex purchased from the CBN on behalf of its
customers.
From the publications, Stanbic IBTC was
followed by First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc,
with $19,774,888.26 and $19,709,354.41, respectively.
Also, Zenith Bank Plc with total returns of $18,707,309.97 came fourth, while Diamond Bank reported returns of $17,515,474.
Access Bank reported returns of
$16,982,208.04 to occupy the sixth place, while the United Bank for
Africa Plc reported returns of $12,045,150.76.
By Thursday, only seven banks had
published their returns on utilisation of funds purchased from the CBN,
with others expected to do so today.
Comments
Post a Comment