The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has traced funds from the failed CBEX cryptocurrency investment scheme to at least four different countries, according to its chairman, Ola Olukoyede.
Speaking during a Channels Television interview on Wednesday night, Olukoyede revealed that while the commission is actively pursuing the recovery of the stolen funds, the chances of full restitution to victims remain slim due to the complexities involved.
He disclosed that several bank accounts linked to the scheme have been blocked and funds frozen, although he declined to provide exact figures.
Olukoyede noted that most of the illicit transactions were conducted using cryptocurrency and funneled through digital wallets outside Nigeria’s jurisdiction, posing significant challenges to tracking and recovering the assets.
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“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 chairman added that the agency has 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.
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