EFCC recovers N120bn, freezes 300 forex accounts– Olukoyede
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede said the agency has recovered N120billion and secured 1, 300 convictions on six months.
He also said the EFCC, in its bid to ensure the safety and stability of the foreign exchange market, has uncovered a new fraudulent scheme called P to P(Peer to Peer trading scheme.
The platform, according to him, is operating outside the official banking and financial corridors.
He said over 300 accounts linked to illicit foreign exchange have already frozen by the EFCC.
He reaffirmed the commitment of the commission to the economic growth and development of the country.
Olukoyede, who made the disclosures during a session with media executives in Abuja, said there is no going back in the commission’s plans to use anti-graft war to stimulate the economy.
He said: “Finally, we will continue our work towards the stimulation of the economy. I promise you that.
“Do you know the Binance case we are working on that has helped us to bring down this market? Suddenly we discovered that there are even people within the system that are doing worse than Binance.
“If you noticed, two days ago, the dollar started appreciating again. There was stability for like 24 hours, then the naira got devalued. It was due to the activities of some of these guys
“Just yesterday, they asked us to close over 300 accounts in illicit forex trading.
In one of these accounts, we noticed that the guy has cleared over N15 billion in the last one year. Nobody knew in the financial corridors.
“Over 300 accounts in illicit forex trading that would have led to another crash in the next one week if we didn’t move yesterday. Some people just want to see this country go from bad to worse. We must find a way to work together.”
“Suddenly, we discovered that there are people in the system who are even doing worse than Binance. They called them P2P (Peer to Peer) and all of that. We noticed in the last two days ago that dollars have started appreciating. There was stability for 24 hours, then the naira was devalued again by N20 and N25. I don’t know whether you noticed that.
“It was due to the activities of some of these guys on P2P platforms like coolcoin. Some of you must have seen them on social media. To shock you; just yesterday (Monday), I asked them to freeze over 300 accounts.
He told the media executives that the commission has recovered more than N120billion from fraudsters within six months and secured more than 1300 convictions.
He called on Nigerians to be more dedicated to the nation.
He insisted that patriotic Nigerians should offer more support to the EFCC because the commission is crucial to the growth and development of Nigeria.