A human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has said that he will apply for an order of Mandamus to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate and prosecute the Deposit Money Banks over loans allegedly granted them by former governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Falana, who spoke at a dinner organised by the executives of the Senior Staff Club of the University of Ibadan in honour of members recently appointed by the Federal Government, the loans were given between 2006 and 2011.
He pointed out that it was important to know if the huge sum had been paid back to the treasury.
Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said he had written a petition to the EFCC on the loans but added that the matter had yet to be attended to.
“We cannot be claiming to be broke when money given out as loans or deposits are not accounted for. The EFCC must probe, recover the funds and prosecute anybody found culpable,” he said.
According to Falana, a former CBN governor gave out $7bn to 14 banks in 2006 while the sum of $5bn was also given to some banks by another CBN governor in 2011.
He noted that the same governor later handed over N2.5tn to those he described as economic saboteurs.
