‘DSS Arrests CBN Finance Director During Retirement Party’

The Department of State Services (DSS) has reportedly arrested and detained the outgoing Finance Director of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Benjamin Fakunle.

It was gathered that Fakunle was picked up on Wednesday at his retirement party in Abuja and has since been in DSS detention since then.

According to a report monitored on Business Day, the CBN official who just retired was picked up in relation to his role in the recently published seven-year audited accounts of the apex bank which is being alleged not to have followed stipulated accounting and reporting guidelines.

Reports say Fakunle is being interrogated on why and how the accounting guidelines which allegedly deviated from the provisions of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) were used to prepare the published accounts of the CBN.

He would also be required to explain why some alleged N401 million was paid for the document as against the rules laid down by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.

Fakunle is one of the top CBN officials who have been arrested and is being interrogated in connection with the activities being carried out by the Special Investigator, Jim Obazee who was appointed in July by President Bola Tinubu to look into the alleged financial infractions of the CBN under suspended Governor Godwin Emefiele.

Emefiele himself has remained in the DSS custody since his arrest on June 10, 2023, a day after President Tinubu suspended him from office.