CBN has unfrozen the accounts of Nairabet, Bamboo and 438 other Companies, and Individuals in Nigeria.
Glamtush reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria has directed banks to vacate a post-no-debit restriction placed on the bank accounts of 440 individuals and companies.
A post-no-debit means that all debit transactions, including ATMs and cheques, on the accounts have been blocked but can receive inflows.
The circular, signed by A.M. Barau on behalf of the CBN director of banking supervision, on Tuesday, also instructed banks to notify the concerned customers of the development.
The apex bank did not state any reason for the action.
The companies on the list include Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Escale Oil & Gas Limited, Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Chaka Technologies Limited, abokiFX Limited, Nairabet International, Northwood Energy Services and Proport Marine Limited, among others.
The circular read, “You are hereby directed to vacate the Post-No-Debit restriction placed on the accounts of the under-listed bank customers at our instance.
“You are also required to inform the concerned customers of the vacation accordingly.”
In 2021, CBN instructed banks to freeze the accounts of 18 companies, ranging from bureaux de change, construction firms, investment companies, laundering services, and property companies.
The affected companies included Bakori Mega Services, Ashambrakh General Enterprise, Namuduka Ventures Limited, Crosslinks Capital and Investment Limited, IGP Global Synergy Limited, Davedan Mille Investment Limited and Urban Laundry.
Others were Advanced Multi-Links Services Limited, Spray Resources, Al-Ishaq Global Resources Limited, Himark Intertrades, Charblecom Concept Limited, and Wudatage Global Resources.
Treynor Soft Ventures, Fyrstrym Global Concepts Limited, Samarize Global Nigeria Limited, and Zahraddeen Haruna Shahru were also included.
All 18 companies have had their bank accounts unfrozen by the apex bank.
CBN Directive
The CBN did not state the reasons for freezing those accounts and why the restriction is being vacated now. The terse instruction on the list of the 440 accounts reads:
- “You are hereby directed to vacate the Post-No-Debit restriction placed on the accounts of the under-listed bank customers at our instance. You are also required to inform the concerned customers of the vacation accordingly.”
LETTER-TO-ALL-BANKS-ON-VACATION-OF-PND-RESTRICTION
What you should know
Glamtush recalls that in August 2021, a federal high court in Abuja granted the request of the CBN to freeze accounts of some fintech companies for 180 days.
The accounts included that of Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited OPNS, Chaka Technologies Limited, CTL/Business Expenses, and Trove Technologies Limited.
In a court paper filed at that time, the apex bank said it was investigating ‘illegal foreign exchange transactions’ by the fintech companies.
- The CBN had submitted in a motion filed at the court that “the investigation being carried out concerns what has been discovered to be serious infractions by the defendants/respondents in connection with some foreign exchange transactions and non-documentation by the defendants/respondents in violation of the extant laws and regulations, particularly the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act and the Central Bank of Nigeria foreign exchange manual.”
Earlier that year, the bank had also announced that it got orders from the Federal High Court, Abuja division, to freeze 194 bank accounts belonging to firms and Bureaux de Change to enable it to conduct investigations into suspicious activities.
What the “post-no-debit status” means
The post-no-debit status imposed on these accounts prevents any transactions involving money from going out of the accounts.
In simpler terms, these accounts can receive funds but cannot perform any withdrawals or payments, including ATM transactions, cheque payments, credit card transactions, and recurring payments.
