President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday hinted that the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, may be prosecuted if a clear case of fraud is established against him.
Sanusi, who was suspended by the President last week, citing financial recklessness is now being investigated by the Financial Reporting and the Board of the Central Bank.
The President fielded questions from a panel of journalists- Mark Amarere of AIT, Tunji Bello of New Telegraph, Grace Ekpo of Wazobia FM and Goodlcuk Nnaji of Blaize FM, during a special centenary edition of the presidential media chat.
According to Jonathan, “The government doesn’t just prosecute anybody. Even in normal civil service operation, when you are suspected for fraud, the best is to place you on suspension and the matter is investigated.
“Why they place you on suspension is so that you don’t stay in that office and frustrate the process of investigation. And if it is a grievous offence, they place you on suspension without salary, but not sacked.
“Until when they conclude investigations, he may go back if he has no case to answer. If he has a case to answer, that is when they prosecute.
“There are issues raised by a third party; the Financial Reporting Council is not a member of CBN. So, there could be some issues, probably there could be explanations. I am not saying everything raised there is incriminating on the CBN or Sanusi. No, nobody has said that.
“It is the board of the CBN and the Financial Reporting Council that will look into those grey areas. And if Sanusi has no case to answer, how will you prosecute somebody that has no case to answer.
“But, if he has a case to answer, it depends on the nature of the case. Prosecution can only come if a clear fraud is established.
“But if a fraud is not established, maybe somebody does not follow due process, or some either issues that are not clearly fraudulent, we may not necessarily prosecute him even though the person is guilty.
“So, Nigerians should wait, they should not just talk about prosecution.”
The President also defended his decision to suspend Sanusi, saying he has absolute powers to do so.
According to him, it became absolutely necessary to suspend the CBN governor to give room for thorough and unbiased investigation since the CBN Governor, Sanusi also doubles as the Chairman of the CBN Board, a situation the President described as an anomaly.
His words, “The President of Nigeria by virtue of the constitution has powers to suspend the governor of CBN. The President has absolute powers to suspend the CBN governor. The CBN laws make provisions that the appointment of governors, deputy governors and executive directors, the President appoints and send to the Senate.
“But, the President has oversight functions over the CBN. For the CBN governor to change the colour of the Naira, the president must approve. When you audit the CBN, you will publish it and for you to even publish it, the President must approve.
“Sanusi is still the governor of CBN and that is why there can never be a substantive governor until the issue is sorted out. Sanusi can come back tomorrow to continue his work because the issues raised are issues that the Board of CBN and the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria have powers to look into.
“The issue of suspension came in because the CBN Act is somehow anomalous. The CBN Governor is also the chairman of the CBN Board; the CBN Governor is also the chief executive of CBN. So, if there are allegations, it becomes a problem for you to look into it. And there are issues raised in the 2012 audit report and for you to be sure of what you are doing, the CBN Governor can just step aside.
“You cannot go to the Senate to ask for powers to suspend and may be in a week or so, may be the Financial Reporting Council sorted out the grey areas and you go back to the Senate and say this man is coming back”.
The President said he waited this long to take action so that due process could be followed.
He said, “The issue is sensitive, you are dealing with the treasury of a country, you have to be careful. You have to take all the necessary steps to make that asking the CBN governor to step aside does not affect the economy. The issues that affect the capital market are very sensitive. “So, no President will just wake up and take decision to suspend the governor of CBN, you have to consult. We have to send the name of the successor to the National Assembly just to tell the international community that the succession is there while there is an acting person. We want to make sure that the succession is to let the international investors to know that whatever happens will not affect the CBN. We must be careful and that is what we have just done and I am quite pleased that thing will stabilize.
I want to use this opportunity to just advise people that the CBN Governor who is a key actor there cannot preside over his activities. We must allow the Financial Reporting Council to work”.
The President also spoke on the alleged missing $20 billion oil money, saying there was no attempt to cover it up. He therefore, assured Nigerian that even if it is a kobo or a dollar that is missing, it must be accounted for.
“Sanusi first spoke about $49.8 billion, everybody was alarmed. I got calls from all over the world that so in Nigeria a lot of money more than the total foreign aids coming into Africa could just disappeared. We were all alarmed and finally Sanusi said it was $12 billion. Later he said it was $20 billion.
“I don’t even know which figure to believe anyway whether it is $49.8b, whether it is $10 or $20 billion. But, whatever even if it is one kobo or one dollar that has disappeared, NNPC will find out, that I can guarantee you. But, while doing that we must follow due process. If you have to do the correct thing, it looks a bit odd, we must follow due process and we must follow rule of law.
“Nobody ever mentioned the Auditor General of the Federation in this matter. But I can tell you that even one dollar, $20 billion is a lot of money. So, no President will accept that $20 billion should disappear whether from NNPC or any government agency.
“Nobody is covering anybody up but we have to do things right. The first query I sent to Sanusi was in April, 2013 and the second one was in May. So, the right thing must be done irrespective of whose ox is gored”.
