- The EFCC is under fire for arresting innocent persons and parading them for money laundering
- The management of Bankers Warehouse has called on the commission to release the $2.8 million cash and its employees
- Bankers Warehouse is a company registered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to carry out cash movement
The management of Bankers Warehouse has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to release the $2.8 million cash and its employees arrested at Enugu Airport on Thursday, December 20.
In a statement sent to Legit.ng on Sunday, December 23, the company said the cash were seized while its employees were arrested while carrying out legitimate business of cash movement for one of its banker clients.
The company further said the employees were arrested, interrogated and detained at Enugu Airport by the EFCC while carrying out cash movement of its clients from its Onitsha branch to Lagos in spite of providing identification details.
Legit.ng gathered that Bankers Warehouse is a company registered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to carry out cash movement as well as currency processing.
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The statement read:
On Thursday evening, December 20, 2018, while providing a legitimate currency movement service for one of our bank clients from their branch at Onitsha to their branch at Lagos, our couriers were stopped at the Enugu airport, detained and interrogated by agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), despite providing their identification details.
The documents provided also included a covering note from the bank, authorizing the team to move the consignment; which is the standard practice.
We hereby state emphatically that the movement of this currency was a legitimate exercise, being carried out on behalf of a legitimate financial institution.
We emphasize that our employees are in no way criminals, carrying out any act of illegality as the EFCC has tried to portray. The young men whose character and reputation have been deliberately soiled by the EFCC operatives were conducting their legitimate duties as requested by a bank customer of our company.
We request for the swift and immediate release of our employees and our customer’s currency, both detained without proper cause.
We also demand an immediate retraction by the EFCC and an apology issued to our company and our employees whose images have been maligned. Our client who has been unfairly exposed and accused of implied illegality, and whose money is still being improperly held by the EFCC operatives, deserve a very special apology for the disclosure of their business and damage done to their image.
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Union Bank, one of the oldest financial institutions in Nigeria, had on Friday, December 21, claimed ownership of the cash.
The bank in a series of tweets denied wrongdoing, saying the movement of cash was a legitimate and routine operation consistent with banking.
It also added that contractors were licenced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, while criticizing the anti-graft agency for being too hasty at disclosing the development to the public, “prior to the completion” of investigation.
NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have updated to serve you better.
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Source: Legit.ng
