ICPC swoops on filling station, arrests accountant, PoS operator for Naira racketeering

*Operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission have arrested an accountant and PoS operator for extorting consumers with a very exorbitant rate contrary to directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria on PoS business in the economy

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

Following a tip-off, the operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have arrested an accountant and Point of Sale (PoS) operator of Oando Petrol at Dutse Alhaji, in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory over alleged new Naira notes racketeering.

ConsumerConnect reports the anti-graft regulatory Commission’s monitoring team had received intelligence, that the filling station disconnected its PoS services, thereby forcing motorists and other consumers to pay for petrol in cash.

The ICPC operatives later discover N1,000,000 cash with the PoS operator and nabbed both the station’s accountant and the PoS operator.

Azuka Ogugua, Spokesperson of ICPC, reportedly disclosed the operatives arrested the suspects over purported racketeering of the redesigned Naira notes.

Ogugua noted the latest arrest was sequel to ICPC’s continued onslaught against some elements who have taken advantage of the current scarcity of new banknotes to swindle unsuspecting Nigerian consumers.

How ICPC operatives effected arrests of suspects

The Spokesperson of the Commission also said the ICPC monitoring team had earlier received a tip-off, indicating that the said filling station “deliberately” disconnected its PoS services, so the motorists could not buy the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as Petrol with the use of their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards.

Ogugua further noted that on reaching the petrol station at Dutse Alhaji, the team discovered the motorists were being forced to pay for the product in cash, and those without the new Naira notes were directed to a PoS operator directly opposite the filling station to access the cash.

However, ICPC operatives found out that the PoS did not only belong to the accountant of the filling station, but operator was charging a very exorbitant rate as a commission against the latest directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on PoS operations in the economy.

The operatives subsequently, directed that a sum of N1,000,000  discovered with the PoS operator should be paid into a bank account.

The ICPC team promptly arrested the accountant and the PoS operator.

The regulatory Commission has since granted both suspects administrative bail.

On fuel racketeering

In a related report, the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, has arrested about five petrol station managers allegedly selling petrol above government-regulated price.

Balarabe Mahmoud, Acting Chairman of the Commission in the state, told reporters recently, that the Commission also got complaints from members of the public regarding the issue of new Naira notes.

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