After popular CBEX platform which claimed to be the China Beijing Equity Exchange crashed in Nigeria, leaving an estimated 300,000 investors with losses of about ₦1.3 trillion, the SEC and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have taken up the case.
Speaking with the PUNCH recently, EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale confirmed that the services of the International Criminal Police (Interpol) would be required after the scheme that guaranteed investors up to 100% returns in a month and required contributions in US dollars suddenly crashed.
According to him, CBEX operated without any sort of registration from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), making it unlawful under Nigerian laws, so the EFCC will do everything possible to protect innocent citizens and guarantee recovery of funds and prosecution of offenders where possible.
“We are actively working to handle the CBEX situation. We will collaborate with other regulatory agencies to ensure that Nigerians are protected from this kind of scheme. We will do our job—where recovery is possible, we will recover; where prosecution is possible, we will prosecute.
Overall, we will do our best. Additionally, there are similar frauds across the country that people are unaware of, and we are working to uncover them. We are on the local collaborators while we are partnering with INTERPOL to trace the foreign operators,” he said.
Dele said that the EFCC had been investigating CBEX before its crash, so they will not relent until the brains behind the scam are made to answer for their crimes. His words, “We had our intelligence before the incident. We were already working on it, but now that the scheme has collapsed, the major actors and their collaborators will be brought in.
We will ensure that we save Nigerians from all these troubles associated with Ponzi schemes. Don’t forget that we already issued an advisory — the 58 companies we alerted the public about. There are many more we are currently investigating.”
From MMM in 2016 to MBA Forex to RackSterli, the CBEX collapse is not the first time Nigerians have fallen prey to Ponzi schemes, especially during an economic downturn like the one we’re all currently facing, and sadly, it might not be the last.
