BY REBECCA AJANI
THE Central Bank of Nigeria has secured three interim orders from a Federal High Court in Abuja to freeze accounts linked to 194 business entities and individuals in 17 Deposit Money Banks.
The separate freeze orders were obtained following three exparte applications filed by the CBN to seek a mandatory order of the court to ask the 17 banks to freeze the accounts of the business organizations and individual pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation, which it (the CBN) initiated.
The development was disclosed in a notice on the court order by the apex bank on its website.
In a suit filed against Nuru Abubakar and 24 others, the court granted the request by the CBN to freeze the account of the defendants in the banks for 45 days.
Justice A.R Muhammed, in his ruling on March 30, 2021, said, “An interim order is hereby made empowering the applicant to direct the head office of the listed banks to freeze forthwith all transactions on the bank account of the defendants for a period of 45 days, pending the outcome of investigation and inquiry currently being conducted by CBN.”
In another suit filed by the apex bank against Sethwealth Ventures and two others, the court granted an exparte application by the apex bank to freeze 50 accounts linked to the three defendants in 13 banks.
Similarly, an order was granted in the suit against Bluebeam Capital Limited, freezing 60 accounts of the company in 13 banks.
The 17 affected banks, according to the CBN, include Access Bank, First City Monument Bank, Fidelity Bank, Sterling Bank, Keystone Bank, Providus Bank, United Bank for Africa, Wema Bank and First Bank.
Others are Guaranty Trust Bank, Ecobank Bank, Heritage Bank, Polaris Bank, Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Union Bank.
The affected companies include Bluebeam Capital Limited, Sethwealth Ventures, Seasons Bureau De Change, Lat-Ade Logistics, Sani Polo Global Investment Limited, Saneo Global Resources Limited and Romvic Ventures Nigeria Limited.
