By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Justice Muslim Hassan of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos Nigeria has granted an ex-parte application seeking to freeze the accounts of four forex dealers domiciled in United Bank for Africa (UBA) and First Bank pending investigations into forex deals used to import prohibited items into the country.
The ex-parte order was granted by the High Court to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for an initial period of 180 days for its investigations.
The judge specifically granted the order freezing bank accounts of Raufu Folashade, Raufu Folashade, Yusufu Ali, Ali Yusufu domiciled in First Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA), respectively.
Recall that the CBN had disclosed that it was probing the forex dealers for allegedly procuring foreign currencies for the purpose of importing items, which had been designated as invalid for the Nigerian foreign exchange market.
The apex bank had further informed Justice Hassan that the alleged illegal activities of the dealers had continually undermined the apex bank’s “efforts to maintain a stable foreign exchange regime, which causes significant economic and financial instability to the Nigerian economy.”
