Nairametrics| The House of Representatives, through its Committee on Public Petition, has waded into a N12 billion melee between the promoter of a virtual currency scheme, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Diamond Bank, Vanguard reports. The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, has thus summoned Ibrahim Idris, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Godwin Emefiele, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Mr Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
This action was taken after the promoter of the scheme, Philemon Gora, accused Diamond Bank of unlawfully closing his account, where over N12 billion investor funds were domiciled. He claimed that the bank account of the scheme had been frozen on the orders of EFCC and CBN when he wanted to refund his clients said to be over 60,000 “investors”.
His inability to do so, he maintained, has led to his being arrested on many occasions, while an employee of his has been given a 7-year sentence by a court.
As for the CBN, it noted that it was asked to intervene only if the matter could not be resolved between the parties. “When a matter is in court, we don’t interfere. According to the petition we got from him, the court asked them to go back and see how the matter can be resolved. And since the matter was before the court, we couldn’t do anything. It’s unfortunate that the EFCC, the Police and Diamond Bank are not here to tell us what they have done with the judgment of the court.” Georgina Nwankwo, CBN Executive Director explained.
An employee of Diamond Bank denied the existence of such funds, saying that there is no money in the account with Diamond Bank, as the money in question is a “virtual” fund.
