The immediate past Governor of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Charles Soludo was on Thursday arrested by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with the alleged Australian polymer banknotes bribery scam.

In 2006, CBN under Prof Soludo awarded the printing contract of its 20 naira polymer note to Securency International, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

According to Proshare, an Australian newspaper ‘The Age,’ reported that Securency International, which manufactures polymer used in banknotes in 28 countries, paid “kickbacks” to secure polymer note printing contracts in some countries, including Nigeria.

The report revealed a total of 750 million naira ($4.6 million) was paid as bribes, with millions of dollars transferred into offshore bank accounts of two British-based businessmen for onward transfer to top Nigerian government functionaries.

Between 2006 and 2008, Securency has supplied 1.9 billion banknotes to the apex bank, in what is reportedly the Australian minter’s biggest African deal.

EFCC’s Acting Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed to THISDAY that: “We have Soludo in our custody, among several other suspects, and it is part of an ongoing investigation over his involvement in the award of contract and printing of polymer banknotes when he was the governor of the CBN.”

The former bank chief-turned-politician, is credited with strengthening the capitalization of Nigerian banks to 25 billion naira ($160 million) thereby forcing the eradication of poorly capitalized financial lenders in the country.