Buhari, EFCC worry over influx of foreign currency

•Anti-graft body: fake dollar notes in circulation

THERE are fake dollar notes in circulation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) warned yesterday.

The anti-graft agency raised the alarm a day after President Muhammadu Buhari expressed concern over the influx of the foreign currencies, especially in the build-up to the elections.

Buhari had at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Abuja on Wednesday alleged that some politicians have flooded the country with foreign currency to influence the elections.

The rescheduled polls begin tomorrow with the presidential/National Assembly elections. The Governorship/State Assembly and the Federal Capital City (FCT) elections are billed for March 9.

EFCC spokesman Tony Orilade warned Nigerians to be wary of fake dollars, in a statement yesterday.

Orilade said the agency issued the warning following the intelligence gathered in the build-up to the elections.

According to him, the anti-graft agency has urged Bureaux de Change operators to be cautious.

The statement reads: “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has raised the alarm over the circulation of fake dollar notes ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.

“In a statement personally signed by the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Magu, the agency stated that the warning follows intelligence gathered in the build-up to the elections.

“The intelligence indicates that the Dollar notes have features of genuineness, but forensic analysis by the Commission reveals otherwise.

“We, therefore, warn the BDC operators to be cautious in their transactions from now till the end of the elections.”

Also in a statement, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the President accused some politicians of flouting money laundering regulations in their desperate bid to capture political power.

He added that the President, however, praised the EFCC for successfully tracking the money in “millions of United States (U.S.) dollars”.

“The EFCC success followed the presidential directive to investigative agencies to probe a number of high profile cases,” the President was quoted as saying.

Reassuring the nation of his administration’s determination to wage a relentless war against money laundering and terrorism financing, the President urged Nigerians, especially politicians, to place the interest of the country above theirs.