The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has threatened to shut down the operations of Aboki FX, a website providing currency exchange information, described by the apex bank as an illegal and criminal platform.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who disclosed this while fielding questions after the Monetary policy committee’s two-day meeting in Abuja on Friday, stated that the bank also plans to prosecute the owner of the platform, Olusegun Oniwinde.
According to Emefiele, “I have given instructions to our experts to go after his website and let it be clear that we will go after him because we can’t allow this to continue.”
The CBN Governor said the apex bank does not recognize any forex market window beside the Investors and Exporters window.
The Naira-dollar exchange rate has soared on the platform in the last couple of days. The platform currently recommends that Bureau de Change operators buy dollar at N560 and sell at N570.
On Thursday, TheCable reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was investigating Oniwinde Adedotun, the founder of AbokiFX.
Sources within the apex bank told TheCable on Thursday night that Adedotun and abokiFX Limited are currently under investigation for “illegal foreign exchange transactions.”
AbokiFX is a web platform that reports movements in the foreign exchange market since as early as 2014.
On Thursday, AbokiFX reported that the naira was trading at N570 to the dollar at the parallel market.
An insider, familiar with the events, told TheCable that “unusual forex transactions” were found in his account, suggesting the promoters of the platform have been involved in illegal forex trading.
