Nigeria's ex-central bank governor pleads not guilty to 26 new charges

Former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele pleaded not guilty Monday to new allegations of foreign-currency infractions brought against him by one of the country’s finance watchdogs.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission accused Emefiele of arbitrarily allocating foreign exchange of about $2 billion without bids and due process, it said in a fresh charges filed at Lagos High Court in Ikeja.

The move escalates the legal battle between the anti-graft agency and the former bank governor who’s also facing charges of fraud, corruption and criminal conspiracy in the nation’s capital, Abuja.