EFCC Arrests Bank Manager For Refusing To Load N29m In ATMs, As Sterling Denies ‘Hoarding’ N200 Notes

Operatives of the EFCC on Monday arrested a manager of a commercial bank in Abuja for refusing to load the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of the bank despite having N29 million of the new naira notes in the vault.

The operatives ordered the loading of all the ATMs and the payment of the stipulated amount across the counter to customers who had spent hours on queues without getting the new notes.

This is coming on the heels of allegations that officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) discovered N6 million of the new naira notes hoarded in Sterling Bank Plc, Ado Ekiti branch on Bank Road, Ado Ekiti in Ekiti State, having received the funds for over two weeks.

Part of the allegations were that the bank had caches of N200 notes stashed away in  the vault of its Ado-Ekiti branch, while its Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) were allegedly bereft of cash, while customers were suffering and waiting endlessly.

Dante Martins, who spoke with MBN on behalf of the bank denied the allegations, however admitting that  Naira notes referenced were received prior to the re-configuration of the branch’s ATMs to dispense the 200 Naira denomination.

According to him the ATMs had not yet been configured to dispense N200 notes, adding that as at the time of discovery,  the subsisting instruction was that the newly designed notes were not to be dispensed over the counter.

“The ATM has been dispensing N1,000 and N500 notes since. And it’s since been configured to also dispense N200 notes. And I’m not even talking about this week. There’s just tonnes of misinformation out there,” Martins said

However, EFCC’s Wilson Uwujaren, the Head, Media and Publicity said in a statement on Monday that this discovery of a commercial bank in Abuja refusing to load the ATMs was an indication of a sabotage of the government’s monetary policy by some banks.

“More than five bank branches were covered on Monday by the EFCC operatives in Abuja, similar exercises are ongoing in zonal commands across the country.

“The operation will continue until normalcy is restored to the banking system.
ALSO READ:Fidelity Grows Profit To N52Bn For FY 2022
“Nigerians are finding it difficult to access their funds at any bank and suspects foul play should contact the commission, for immediate intervention,” he said.

But investigations by MBN showed that despite CBN’s instructions that OTC payments to the maximum of N20,000 should commence to customers, most banks are yet to comply while encouraging sharp practices and discriminatory services in most of the branches of the banks.