ICPC arrests accountant selling new naira notes in Abuja

An accountant for a gas station in Dutse Alhaji, Abuja, has been detained by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.

The accountant was reportedly detained for alleged new naira note racketeering, according to a statement released by the Commission's spokesperson, Mrs. Azuka Ogugua, on Friday in Abuja.

She claims that this most recent arrest comes in the wake of the commission's ongoing campaign against certain individuals who have used the limited supply of the new naira notes to deceive trusting Nigerians.

According to Ogugua, the Commission's Monitoring Team had previously been made aware that the aforementioned gas station had purposefully turned off its Point of Sale capabilities in order to facilitate its fraudulent activities.

The statement partly read, “Motorists could not have access to the Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, using their Automated Teller Machine cards.

“Upon reaching the petrol station, the Team found out that motorists were forced to pay for the product in cash, and those without the new notes were directed to a POS operator directly opposite the station to access their cash.

“ICPC operatives found out that the PoS did not only belong to the accountant of the filling station, but it was indulging high charges as commission against the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“The sum of one million naira (N1,000,000) was discovered with the PoS operator which the Team directed that it should be paid into a bank account.”

Ogugua said the accountant and the POS operator were promptly arrested, adding that, “both of them have been granted administrative bail by the Commission.”

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