In a statement on Tuesday, the ICPC said it discovered the lump sum at Sterling Bank during its ongoing efforts at ensuring that commercial banks comply with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive on the distribution of the redesigned naira note.
The statement read: “When the ICPC monitoring team visited the bank and discovered the stashed new Naira notes in the bank’s vault, it was informed that the cash was the remnant of what the CBN had given the bank for onward distribution to its branches.
“The team however found out that only the sum of Five Million Naira (N5m) each was distributed to their various branches,” the ICPC stated.
The ICPC confirmed that two managers of the bank – the Regional and Service managers were arrested but were later granted administrative bail while investigation continues.
The anti corruption agency also said it arrested the Head of Operations, Keystone Bank, Mararaba in Nasarawa State for frustrating the bank’s customers from getting the new Naira notes by failing to load the ATMs with cash.
“The ICPC team, while on its routine operation, found out that the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) at the branch were not dispensing to its customers, while other bank customers were accessing only One Thousand Naira.
“It was only after the arrest was made and clarification received from CBN that the position of the officers of the Bank was not correct, that the ATMs started dispensing Five Thousand Naira to non-customers and Ten Thousand Naira to its customers,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, some of the commercial banks in Ogba and environs shut their doors against their customers seeking payment following the CBN cash swap policy.
At Ogba, only Access Bank opened to customers who came for FX, deposits or funds transfers.
A bank.official, who addressed the waiting customers pleaded for patients, saying the bank had no cash for transactions.
Customers of GTBank and Zenith, Ogba who were denied access to the banking halls were seen outside lamenting the unfair treatment meted to them. Some of the customers threatened to close their accounts with the tier one lenders as soon as the naira redesign crises are over.
Some of the banks at Dopemu Agege Motor Road also shut their gates while their waiting customers accused “top bank officials of selling the redesigned Naira notes to POS operators while their customers were denied access to their hard-earned money.”