The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has discovered a new scheme, dubbed “P to P” peer-to-peer financial trading, which has operated outside official banking and financial channels, posing a significant threat to the foreign exchange market.
According to EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, the agency has frozen around 300 accounts to prevent a looming disaster that could further devalue the Naira, News About Nigeria reports.
Olukoyede revealed that over $15 billion passed through one of the platforms in the last year, circumventing financial regulations.
He said that some individuals in Nigeria are engaging in activities worse than Binance, a crypto trading platform under investigation.
“There are people in this country doing worse than Binance,” he said
The government has intensified its crackdown on Binance in recent months.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) claimed that over $26 billion was channelled through Binance without financial regulation.
“In the last year,” CBN governor Yemi Cardoso said, “more than $26 billion has been funnelled through Binance without trace.”
Nadeem Anjarwalla, who fled Nigeria weeks ago, is one of the cryptocurrency chiefs arrested during the crackdown.
Anjarwalla, an executive of Binance, has been arrested in Kenya. He holds British and Kenyan citizenship and was facing trial in Nigeria but escaped while under a 14-day remand order. He was scheduled to appear in court on April 4, 2024.
The EFCC, International Criminal Police, Nigeria Police Force, and Kenyan Police Service have been collaborating to extradite Anjarwalla.
The EFCC confirmed plans to extradite him in March, stating that the agency is determined to prevent distortions and disruptions in the country’s forex market.
The EFCC had charged Binance Holdings Limited, Tigran Gambaryan, and Nadeem Anjarwalla with tax evasion, currency speculation, and money laundering to the tune of $35.4 million. Gambaryan is currently in custody.
“The takeover of the prosecution of Binance chiefs by the commission is no less a strong message in the direction of the EFCC’s resolve to hedge in distortions and disruptions in the country’s forex market,” the anti-graft agency’s chief said.
