The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reportedly instructed commercial banks in the country to block the accounts of 38 companies operating in the country for going against its foreign exchange policy, Blueprint has gathered.
The list includes the accounts of Premier Lotto Ltd a popular lotto company and the owners of the widely used “Baba Ijebu ” lotto platform. It also includes several Bureau De Change operators, oil and gas firms and several other companies.
It would be recalled that the CBN had on August 26 announced it will go tough on exporters who are guilty of forex non-repatriation in its bid to strengthen the local currency.
The apex banks instructed that “Authorized Dealers are hereby directed to desist from the opening of Form M whose payment is routed through a buying company/agent or any other third parties” effectively eliminating third parties or middlemen from transacting in forex deals in its official SMIS window.”
It also directed banks to submit the names, addresses, and Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) of all the exporters who have failed to repatriate their export proceeds.
In a leaked memo, the apex bank did not state why the accounts were flagged but reliable sources confirmed the decision to block the account was not unconnected with forex infractions.
“You are hereby required to place the under listed accounts on Post-No-Debit with immediate effect and revert with the account names, numbers, currencies and balances of all accounts placed on PND.”
A Post-No-Debit (PND) is basically an instruction to banks not to allow any withdrawals or transfers from the bank account of account owners, essentially blocking the account from outflows. It is usually drastic a measure taken to allow for investigation and possible to reclaim any illegal inflow into an account.
According to a reliable source, one of the Lotto companies on the list transferred $420 million abroad “under the guise of purchasing software” but the funds were later traced to the bank accounts of some of its directors.
