There is a ray of hope that some victims of the failed crypto bridge exchange (CBEX) scheme may be able to recoup some of their funds according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which disclosed that several accounts belonging to operators of the Ponzi scheme have been blocked and funds frozen.
The EFCC also revealed that it had traced funds linked to CBEX to at least four countries, while keeping close to his chest how much of such funds had been frozen.
Speaking on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today on Wednesday night, the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, said although efforts were underway to recover the stolen funds, full restitution to victims may be impossible.
Stating that most of the transactions were conducted in cryptocurrency and routed through wallets beyond Nigeria’s jurisdiction, Olukoyede said, “We have been able to block some accounts. We have been able to freeze some funds, for which I will not be able to give you a figure, but we have been able to freeze some reasonable amount of funds.
“I will not sit down and tell you that we are going to restitute every victim. It will become practically impossible because quite a certain number of money has been dissipated and not within our system.
“We have traced to three, four countries now. In fact, the principal parties behind the entire scheme, most of them are foreigners; they are not within our jurisdiction, and you know what that entails.
“In fact, it took our proficiency to be able to even freeze some assets that we have now. So, yes, we’ve embarked on that journey. Whatever we can get back, we will get it back and let Nigerians know. But we will not be able to confirm that we will restitute every victim. That may be practically impossible.”
The EFCC boss further stated that the agency had arrested three suspects who are currently in custody and have made “very useful statements” to investigators.
“We have made arrests. Right now, we have about three people in our custody who have made very useful statements,” Olukoyede said.