EFCC freezes 300 accounts linked to illegal forex trading

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen about 300 accounts linked to illegal foreign exchange trading in the country.

The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, made this known in Abuja on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.

Olukoyede said the individuals involved in the illegal trade were doing worse than the cryptocurrency trading platform Binance and its system.

He said the EFCC has frozen about 300 accounts to ensure the safety of the forex market, adding that the anti-graft agency secured a court order to freeze the accounts.

The EFCC boss said: “We got an order to freeze those accounts imagine what would have happened if we didn’t seize those accounts.

“There are people in this country doing worse than Binance.”

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Olukoyede added that over $15 billion passed through one of the platforms in 2023, which he said was not regulated by financial regulators.

The latest development comes a day after Kenya’s police service reportedly arrested Binance Regional Manager for Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on April 8, remanded Binance Holdings Limited’s executive Tigran Gambaryan in Kuje Correctional Centre, pending the determination of his bail application.

The presiding judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, gave the order after Gambaryan pleaded not guilty to the money laundering charges preferred against him by EFCC.

EFCC arraigned Gambaryan on an alleged money laundering charge following the dismissal of his objection by the court.

He was arraigned alongside the company (Binance) and Anjarwalla.

Anjarwalla was said to have fled Nigeria after he escaped from custody on March 22.

In the five-count charge dated and filed on March 28 by EFCC, the defendants were accused of money laundering to the tune of $35,400,000.

The Star