OFFICIALS FROM THE ICPC RAID THE BANKS IN BAUCHI AND CHECK THE CASH FLOW

In order to supervise a cash disbursement operation that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission warned would extend throughout the entire nation, officials stormed two banks in Bauchi State on Tuesday.

According to information obtained by our correspondent, the operation, which is still ongoing, is being carried out by a joint task force made up of agents from the ICPC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

A senior ICPC official told our correspondent on Wednesday that the taskforce, which included members of the CBN and the EFCC, was formed on Tuesday to oversee the distribution of new currency notes by select commercial banks in the Bauchi metropolis.

Tuesday, the first day of the exercise, saw the monitoring of two banks: Access Bank and First Bank. The country will be affected by this activity.

The current raids followed similar ones conducted by EFCC and Department of State Services officials against money launderers and racketeers.

The raids were conducted a short time after CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele announced that the top bank would work with law enforcement organizations like the ICPC and the EFCC to trace large withdrawals.

The previous N200, N500, and N1,000 notes were still valid until February 10 thanks to a CBN extension that took effect on January 31.

The EFCC announced on Tuesday that it had apprehended members of a conspiracy of currency racketeers trading in the redesigned naira notes at Zone 4, Wuse, and Dei-Dei axis of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, even though the ICPC had yet to confirm any arrests.

Additionally, the DSS disclosed on Monday that its agents had detained some currency traders who had made a tidy profit from the selling of newly redesigned notes.