Abdulazeez Abdulwahab
DANGOTE Group has described the 4 January 2024 raid on the head office by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as “designed to cause us unwarranted embarrassment.”
The group in a statement Saturday 6th January 2024 said it could not fathom why officials of the Commission decided to visit the company office when its (Dangote Group) representatives were at the time of the raid still at the EFCC’s office to deliver the same set of documents being sought by the anti-graft agency.
Giving further insight into the issue, Dangote Group, in the 10-paragraph statement said on 6th December 2023, it received a letter requesting details of all the foreign exchange allocated to the company by the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2014 to the present. “We understand similar letters were sent to 51 other Groups of companies requesting for same information spanning the same period.”
Dangote Group said it responded to the EFCC to acknowledge receipt of the letter whilst seeking clarification on the subsidiaries or companies within the Group that the Commission required information on. “We also requested additional time to compile and properly present the extensive documentation spanning ten years.
“However, the EFCC did not provide the clarification sought and also did not honour our request for an extension and insisted on receiving the complete set of documents within the limited timeframe. Despite this constraint, we assured the EFCC of our commitment to providing the information and pledged to share documents in batches as we complete the compilation.”
The Group said on 4 January 2024, its team delivered the first batch of documents to the EFCC. However, officers of the EFCC did not accept the documents, insisting on visiting its offices to collect the same set of documents directly.
“Whilst our representatives were still at the EFCC’s office to deliver the documents, a team of their officers proceeded to visit our offices to demand the same documents in a manner that appeared designed to cause us unwarranted embarrassment.
“Worthy of note is the fact that the officials did not take any documents or files from our Head Office during their visit as these were already in their office.
“We must emphasize that, to our knowledge, no accusations of wrongdoing have been made against any company within our Group. At present, we are only responding to a request for information to assist the EFCC with its ongoing investigation.
“Our Group is a key contributor to the national GDP, the largest employer in the private sector, one of the largest groups listed on the Nigerian Exchange and one of the highest taxpayers in the country. We remain steadfast in our belief in Nigeria’s commitment to the rule of law and its dedication to fostering an environment conducive to investment and value creation for both local and foreign investors.
“We, therefore, call for the understanding and patience of our stakeholders. We will keep our stakeholders informed of any further developments.”
Eighteen-Eleven Media