The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered banks to publish account statements of some betting company owners.
On the list are Adebutu Kessington and Akin Alabi, the owners of Premier Lotto, aka ‘Baba Ijebu’, and NairaBET, respectively.
Also affected are Adebutu’s sons, as wells as some bureau de change and logistics companies.
The directive was contained in a statement on Tuesday by Z. Markus, on behalf of Director of Banking Supervision, Bello Hassan.
According to the statement, CBN gave the banks ultimatum of 4:00 pm on Wednesday, September 16 to publish the account details.
Early September, the CBN placed a post-no-debit on the bank accounts of 38 companies.
They included 3D Scanners Bureau De Change Limited, Blue Wall Nigeria Limited, JNFX International Limited and Northline Limited, SV Gaming Limited.
Others are Premier Lotto, R&S Lotto Limited, TM Gaming Networks Limited, Escale Oil and Gas Limited, Barkoli Trading Company Limited and Godoni Enterprises Limited.
A memo to banks by Bello Hassan read: “You are hereby required to place the under listed accounts on post-no-debit with immediate effect and revert with the account names, numbers, currencies and balances of all accounts placed on PND.”
The companies are being accused of forex infractions, moving forex abroad without the required authorization and “economic sabotage.”
A betting company reportedly moved $420million abroad under the pretext of software purchase.
But the funds were traced to the foreign accounts of its directors.