CBN NEWS

Update CBN unfreezes accounts of Bamboo, Rise Vest, Nairabet, 437 other companies and individuals

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to unfreeze the accounts of 20 #EndSARS campaigners targeted by the apex bank after last year’s anti-police brutality demonstrations. PREMIUM TIMES reported on Sunday how the accounts of the protesters remained frozen despite the expiration of the 90-day order on February 2. The judge, Ahmed Mohammed, issued the order unfreezing the accounts after the legal teams of both the CBN and the 20 defendants decided to end the case on Wednesday. The judge commended the two lawyers for their “commitment to ensure justice” after they announced their decision to withdraw all pending applications and the entire suit. “In the light of this, the ex parte order issued on November 4, 2022 freezing the accounts of the defendants pending the investigation by the Central Bank of Nigeria is here by set aside. “An order is also made unfreezing the accounts of the defendants,” Mr Mohammed ruled on Wednesday. Hearing Earlier, CBN’s lawyer, Michael Aondoakaa, a former Attorney-General of the Federation, told the judge he filed an ex parte application for the extension of the expired order on Tuesday, but later got instruction from the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to withdraw the case. Mr Aondoakaa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said he was withdrawing the suit in the spirit of reconciliation behind the setting up of the various Judicial Panels of Inquiry set up to probe cases of police brutality in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests. He said, “This matter involves young people. I talked to my colleagues and I advised, let us discard all the processes. I will withdraw my processes and they will withdraw theirs. “By implication, the order goes, the accounts will be unfrozen, and nobody will be indicted. “The government has set up reconciliation panels. We should give room for a rethink on this matter. “We have the instruction form my client, the Governor of CBN, that in the spirit of reconciliation, we should not apply for the extension of the order.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has instructed banks to lift the post-no-debit restriction on the bank accounts of 440 individuals and companies, including that of fintechs like Bamboo, Risevest, and a sports betting company, Nairabet. The apex bank in a circular signed by its Director of Banking Supervision, A.M. Barau, and sent to all banks, directed the banks to inform all the affected customers, comprising companies and individuals of the decision. Also among the fintech companies whose accounts have been unfrozen were Chaka Technologies Limited and Trove Technologies Limited. The accounts also include that of a popular crypto exchange, Yellow Card Financial. CBN Directive The CBN did not state the reasons for freezing those accounts and why the restriction is being vacated now. The terse instruction on the list of the 440 accounts reads: “You are hereby directed to vacate the Post-No-Debit restriction placed on the accounts of the under-listed bank customers at our instance. You are also required to inform the concerned customers of the vacation accordingly.”

What you should know Nairametrics recall that in August 2021, a federal high court in Abuja granted the request of the CBN to freeze accounts of some fintech companies for 180 days. The accounts included that of Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited OPNS, Chaka Technologies Limited, CTL/Business Expenses, and Trove Technologies Limited. In a court paper filed at that time, the apex bank said it was investigating ‘illegal foreign exchange transactions’ by the fintech companies. The CBN had submitted in a motion filed at the court that “the investigation being carried out concerns what has been discovered to be serious infractions by the defendants/respondents in connection with some foreign exchange transactions and non-documentation by the defendants/respondents in violation of the extant laws and regulations, particularly the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act and the Central Bank of Nigeria foreign exchange manual.” Earlier that year, the bank had also announced that it got orders from the Federal High Court, Abuja division, to freeze 194 bank accounts belonging to firms and Bureaux de Change to enable it to conduct investigations into suspicious activities. What the “post-no-debit status” means The post-no-debit status imposed on these accounts prevents any transactions involving money from going out of the accounts. In simpler terms, these accounts can receive funds but cannot perform any withdrawals or payments, including ATM transactions, cheque payments, credit card transactions, and recurring payments.