By Ali Idrissou-Toure
COTONOU, May 20 2002 (IPS)

Panic has gripped West Africa over the circulation of fake 10,000 franc bank notes (each worth 14.2 U.S. dollars) since late March.

Some “100 million francs (around 142,857 U.S. dollars) in fake 10,000 franc bank notes have been withdrawn in all eight member countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) since Mar 23,” says Bakary Lansina.

Lansina, who is the manager of the Abidjan-based Central Bank of West African States, with French acronym BCEAO, says “in Cote d’Ivoire alone on Apr 30, they seized 13 million fake bank notes (worth around 18,571 U.S. dollars)”.

The first fake bank note bills were discovered in Cotonou, Benin on Mar 23 and later in Lome, Togo on 26, before being detected in other WAEMU countries.

WAEMU comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

A total of 1,852 fake 10,000 franc bank notes, totalling 15.820 million francs (around 22,600 U.S. dollars) were identified in Lome by the country’s Central Bank when Ecobank-Togo was depositing funds.

Shortly thereafter, Ali Nassr, a Lebanese national, was picked up in Lome where he — according to police — confessed to having shipped 52 million francs (around 74,285.7 U.S. dollars) to Benin.

Another Lebanese citizen, Mahmoud Toufic Rmeiti, suspected of being the ringleader of the counterfeit traffic, had operated in the region for several years, according to the police.

Police has accused Rmeiti, 38, of being behind the 1,852 counterfeit bills identified in Lome. He is also suspected of having deposited 15,220 million francs worth of fake bills (around 21,742.8 U.S. dollars) into his bank account on Mar 22, and of having withdrawn, shortly thereafter, 15,471 million francs (around 22,101 U.S. dollars).

Four days later, on Mar 26, he deposited 9,650 million francs worth of counterfeit bills (around 13,785.7 U.S. dollars) into his Lome bank account, and that he wanted to withdraw, a few hours later, 7.143 million francs (around 10,204 U.S. dollars).

Sought by both the Beninoir and Togolese police, Rmeiti fled to Europe before returning to Lebanon. On Apr 5, a Togolese judge issued an international warrant for his arrest.

From Lebanon, Rmeiti denied the accusations against him and blamed unnamed Lebanese compatriots in Benin for fabricating the story to fulfil ‘some vague desire to settle a score with me’. He claimed that he had not fled, and that he would “return to Benin to give his version of the story”.

“We’ve arrested 20 people of various nationalities who have been handed over to the authorities,” Raymond Koudouwovor, director general of Togo’s criminal investigation department said, while attending a meeting in Abidjan recently.

“Top officials from the criminal investigation department and the BCEAO attended the meeting. It was a strategy planning session for us, to study ways and means to effectively fight counterfeiters,” he added.

In Paris, an Ivorian woman and a Frenchman were arrested, while exchanging “hundreds” of fake 10,000 franc bank notes for Euros at hostels for immigrant workers returning to Africa on vacation.

The announcement that there were counterfeit bills in the market caused panic and refusal to accept 10,000 franc bank notes in cash transactions, especially in the markets.

Sarah Sant’anna, a secretary, says it is hard to go shopping now with 10,000 franc bills in Lome. “Traders refuse to take the notes because they don’t have counterfeit bill detectors,” she says.

Dede Ekoue, a trader at a Lome market, says, “I don’t accept 10,000 franc bills anymore”. She says a wholesaler got stuck with 210,000 francs worth of fake notes (around 300 U.S. dollars) after she made some purchases in her neighbourhood.

Marcel Gaba, a banker, says he has become “more vigilant than ever now”.

“In addition to a counterfeit detector, we check all identifying marks of the bills, the printing, the special paper, the security thread, the BCEAO emblem set into each side, etc.”.

In Niger, some 40 fake bills have turned up at the Central Bank in Niamey, the capital, according to the BCEAO manager for the country, Soumana Abdoulaye. He has urged Nigeriens “not to panic”, insisting that the BCEAO has “taken all necessary measures to dismantle the counterfeit ring’.

“It is not a large-scale phenomenon but it seemed so spectacular because the fake notes were introduced at the same time in practically all the WAEMU countries”, says Lansina, the BCEAO manager for Cote d’Ivoire. He notes that the only WAEMU country where the counterfeit money has not yet turned up is Guinea-Bissau.

“This is the first time our currency has been invaded by such an sophisticated counterfeiting scheme,” he states, indicating that people from rural areas are generally “most vulnerable” because of their inability to distinguish between authentic and fake notes. The 10,000 franc banknote was first issued by the BCEAO for circulation in Sep 1994.

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