The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has offered a ray of hope to Nigerians who lost funds in the now-defunct trading platform, CBEX. The anti-graft agency says efforts are already underway to ensure that investors get their money back.
This assurance was given on Wednesday by EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale during an interview on Channels Television. He emphasized that long before the platform collapsed, the EFCC had already issued public warnings about the dangers of investing in unregulated schemes, urging Nigerians to steer clear of suspected Ponzi operations.
Despite the warnings, many Nigerians reportedly invested in CBEX, which promised users a 100 percent return on investment. Trouble began over the weekend when users started experiencing difficulties withdrawing funds.
Naturenex reports that Oyewale disclosed the EFCC had been monitoring the platform and had initiated profiling activities even before its collapse. He revealed that the commission is now collaborating with international law enforcement agencies to track those behind the scheme and recover investors’ funds.
“We were not waiting for Nigerians to call us before we started our work, of course, we have been working.
We were not beaten by what actually happened. Our dragnet is wide, our intelligence is very effective, and we were tracking that digital trading platform.
We were tracking it, and we profiled several things concerning the platform. You will recall that March 11 this year, the executive chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, had called to instruct us to alert Nigerians,” Oyewale stated.
The EFCC had previously published a list of about 58 suspicious investment platforms, warning the public to avoid falling victim to scams. According to Oyewale, the commission remains committed to ensuring that investors in the CBEX platform are not abandoned.
“That shows that we are proactive and we have our hands on what is happening. So concerning this investigation, we were on it, it’s not that we didn’t know.
We’ve been alerting Nigerians about ways and means of how to separate themselves from this kind of shenanigans.
Before the calls came, we were working, while the calls are coming, we are working; And even after the calls, we are still working.
The essential thing is that, of course, we are going to recall some of the things that Nigerians should be looking out for, you know, concerning this kind of investment schemes and all of that,” he said.
While the EFCC is optimistic, Oyewale acknowledged that the recovery process would take time.
“No, it will be very irresponsible and unprofessional if the EFCC says that you have lost your money; there is nothing the commission can do about it.
We are already working with Interpol and our international development agencies to ensure that these people are brought to book.
Investors are going to get their money back, and we are already working on that. Everything I’m saying is that this kind of thing could have been averted.
Be it as it may, it was not averted, we are not going to throw our hands out helplessly and say that there’s nothing EFCC can do about it.
We are more responsible and professional than that. We have spread out our wings by talking to Interpol and the necessary agencies across the world to be able to bring all the actors to book, and investors will have their money back,” he concluded.
