A
Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered a temporary forfeiture of funds
and freezing of accounts domiciled in 19 Banks not covered by the Biometric
Verification Number (BVN).
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba gave the order over the weekend following the application
by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar
Malami.
The order
covers individuals, corporate bodies and government agencies without BVN across
the country.
The judge
also ordered the 19 banks to file an affidavit of disclosure before the court
which should be deposed to by the Chief Compliance Officer of all accounts of
those the orders are directed to.
He also made
a freezing order stopping all outward payments, operations or transactions in
respect of the accounts, pending the determination of the suit.
Details
expected include the names of the accounts, account numbers, outstanding
balances, domiciliary accounts and the branch/location where the accounts
without BVN are domiciled.
Justice
Dimgba also gave an interim order appointing a bank examiner from the Central
Bank of Nigeria to scrutinise the books of any bank that fails to comply with
the order.
He
consequently directed the publication or advertisement of the accounts without
BVN for any interested persons to claim the ownership within 14 days.
He said the
notice was necessary to allow the account owners show cause why the
proceeds of the said accounts should not be permanently forfeited to the
Federal Government.
Source: Channels TV
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