Dangote, other billionaire feud publicly over financial impropriety in Nigeria

Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote blamed fellow tycoon Abdul Samad Rabiu for attempting to instigate a probe into alleged money laundering at companies, Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) run by Africa’s richest man.

Dangote also refuted allegations that it engaged in illegal foreign exchange deals, warning those peddling the allegation of economic sabotage against the company to desist from such underhanded practices.

It gave the warning following claims in some sponsored reports in the online media, suggesting that the company is being probed for alleged illegal foreign exchange deals and money laundering by the Special Investigator, Jim Obazee who is probing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the leadership of the former CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

In a statement, DIL described the allegation as spurious and a rehash of a similar report peddled out of malice by a competitor, BUA Group, masquerading as a concerned Nigerian in 2016.

DIL management explained that the same false report back in 2016 was now being given a fresh false slant by one Ahmed Fahad purporting it to be a new petition directed to the attention of President Bola Tinubu and Mr. Jim Obazee, the Special Investigator probing the CBN, and subsequently different blogs and social media platforms have been carrying variants of this arrant falsehood to the detriment of our corporate reputation.”

The statement said: “attempt by the authors of this misleading allegation to give it a fresh life in the media is baffling as the two newspapers that were misguided into publishing it as advertorial then (2016) have since publicly apologised to the management of DIL in writing as well as retracted the advertorial in its entirety in their respective publications.”

DIL re-emphasised that foreign exchange for its numerous projects were sourced strictly from Interbank Foreign Exchange market in compliance with the CBN approvals and that ‘Letters of Credit’ were established for the construction of the various operational plants and for the purchase of heavy equipment and spares required for the take-off of the Dangote Cement plants.

DIL explained its forex dealings, saying “all FX purchased in respect of our African Projects expansion were fully utilised for what they were meant for. The projects for which the FX was utilised are visible for everyone to see. It is on record that some of these projects were commissioned by Nigerian top-ranking government officials and in attendance were Chief Executives of various banks, Captains of Industries and the Presidents of the host countries supported by their Senior Government Officials.”

The company further stated that funds invested in its expansion project across African countries are legitimate capital investments in those countries and the repatriation of FX in sum of $576 million so far has helped to boost foreign Exchange earnings in Nigeria and stabilise the FX Market.