EFCC Gives Lifeline to CBEX Investors

According to EFCC spokesperson, Mr Dele Oyewale, the anti-graft agency has launched a probe, in collaboration with the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) and other international partners, to track the perpetrators of the Ponzi scheme operator.

It was speculated that the company went away with investors’ funds to the tune of N1.3 trillion.

Checks by Business Post indicate many Nigerians lost a huge amount of money to CBEX, with some still in shock on how they fell prey.

Earlier, this newspaper reported that offices of the company in Ibadan and a few other places in Nigeria were looted by some aggrieved investors following news that the company has shut down its services.

For the EFCC, it has now stepped in after receiving calls from different quarters over the incident, according to Mr Oyewale during an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief on Wednesday.

“Concerning this CBEX thing, we’re on it; it’s not that we didn’t know, and you know we’ve been alerting Nigerians about ways and means to separate themselves from this type of shenanigans. So, before the calls came, we were working; while the calls were coming, we were working, and even after the calls, we’re still working.

“I can assure you that all of the profiling we need to do, contacts that we need to make, and some collaborative engagement that we need to make, we’re already doing that. We’re in contact with Interpol. We’re in contact with our development partners,” he stated.

He also said legislation like the recently passed Investment and Securities Act (2025) will help crackdown on Ponzi schemes.

According to the Act, it is criminal to engage in any digital trading activity without being licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and complying with all the extant laws, as any form of exchange or business engagement must conform to the provisions provided.

“This has empowered us as a commission because we know that with the ISA 2025, it’s so easy for us if you’re involved in some kind of engagement and you’re not licensed and you’re not compliant with extant laws; I mean, it’s a straight thing. We will act accordingly, and we’ll bring such people to justice,” he said.