The Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday
again warned against the patronage of illegal money transfer operators,
stating that the development was undermining its efforts in sanitising
the system.
The bank, in a statement issued by its
Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr. Isaac
Okoroafor, said that Nigerians in the Diaspora stand the risk of being
defrauded by the illegal operators.
The statement read in part, “The
attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to the
increasing patronage of illegal money transfer operators by Nigerians in
the Diaspora for the purpose of home remittances.
“These unscrupulous operators, who lure
unsuspecting customers with ridiculous exchange rates, use naira
accounts opened in local banks ostensibly for legal business to pay out
the proceeds to the beneficiaries, while channelling the foreign
currencies to fund the parallel market.
“This practice has led to the
non-reporting of such transactions to relevant authorities, thereby
undermining effective surveillance of the sector as well as leading to
discrepancies in statistics on the transactions between countries of
origin of remittances and the destination country, Nigeria.”
The CBN urged Deposit Money Banks to
ensure painstaking conduct of the ‘Know Your Customers’ Business’ in
order to prevent the use of the accounts for illegal transactions and
avoid regulatory sanctions.
The apex bank added that such accounts,
when discovered, would be blocked and the operators handed over to
appropriate law enforcement agencies for prosecution.
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