Court Grants CBN Request to Freeze 193 Accounts Over Alleged Forex Fraud
By Sahabi Abdul
Nigeria’s federal high Court in the capital, Abuja, granted a central bank request to freeze 193 bank accounts over investigations of suspected foreign-exchange fraud.
The affected accounts include those operated by companies as well as individuals, according to copies of Court proceedings posted on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“Any person or persons that is aggrieved by this order shall approach this court to seek to set aside, discharge or have the order reviewed without waiting for the expiration of 45 days given in the law, but upon good reasons shown,” reads the text of the ruling.
“The order is renewable on expiration upon good reasons shown,” it added.
Amid foreign-exchange shortages occasioned by last year’s collapse of the price of the country’s main export, oil, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele has pursued a policy to curb speculative demand.
The regulator has in particular sought to stop those obtaining foreign exchange at official rates in order to sell for profit in the unofficial parallel market.
Rules have been tightened for approving applications for foreign exchange, including measures to ensure that allocations are used for the stated purposes.
The case will come up for hearing on May 17.