Freezing of BDCs, others accounts: ABCON boss insists on fair hearing – The President of Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe has impressed on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) the need to expedite investigation on the accounts of Bureaux de Change operators (BDCs) suspected to be involved in some infractions.
Speaking exclusively with our correspondent at the weekend, Gwadabe maintained that the Association was not in any way against putting accounts of suspected BDcs on the watch list, but frowned at a situation where justice may not be seen to have been served expeditiously.
On whether the Association plans to wade into the crisis, the ABCON boss said it has approached the CBn in the past and would also do so now in the interest of its members.
“This is not the first time the CBN is freezing the accounts of BDCs, individuals or companies’ accounts. It is a routine thing which began some two years ago. Our position is that anyone found guilty of committing any infraction should face the appropriate sanctions but for those who are not guilty need to be investigated and set free as soon as possible so they can return t business,” Gwadabe maintained.
It may be recalled that on Thursday the apex bank secured orders from the Federal High Court, Abuja division, to freeze 194 bank accounts belonging to firms and BDCs to enable it to conduct investigations into suspicious activities.
The CBN disclosed this in three separate documents on its website.
In one of the documents, the CBN said it got an order to freeze 60 bank accounts of Bluebeam Capital Limited.
The accounts were domiciled in 13 different banks, the CBN as the plaintiff stated.
Bluebeam, as the respondent had eight accounts each in Access Bank and Keystone Bank; seven each in First Bank and Ecobank; five each in UBA and GTBank; four each in Fidelity Bank, FCMB and Sterling Bank; three accounts in Polaris Bank; two each in Wema Bank and Heritage Bank; and one in Providus Bank.
Read: Make BDCs direct agents of IMTOs – ABCON urges CBN
In another document, the CBN said it got an order to freeze 84 accounts in 17 banks.
The third documents revealed that the banking regulator had the court order to freeze 50 accounts domiciled in different banks.
The motions exparte which were signed on different dates sought the orders of the court to direct the banks to freeze all other bank accounts of the defendants for a period of 180 days, pending the outcome of investigation and inquiry being conducted by the CBN.
In the document signed by the Presiding Judge, A.R. Mohammed, the court empowered the CBN to direct the banks to freeze all the bank accounts for a period of 45 days only, pending the outcome of investigation.
It added that the order may be extended upon good reasons shown.
Any person aggrieved by this order could apply to the court to have the order set aside, discharged or have the order reviewed upon good reasons without waiting for the 45 days to lapse, the document stated.
The CBN on Wednesday disclosed it got an order to freeze 11 bank accounts to enable it conduct investigations into suspicious activities.
It had listed the names of the defendants/respondents as Albert Austin Ugochukwu with two bank accounts; Belfour Energy & Allied Services; Belfour Oil and Gas Limited with three bank accounts; Circle Flow Integrated Services; Kacynaus Reality Nigeria Limited with three bank accounts; and Tasmara Integrated Services.