A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has vacated with immediate effect an interim order through which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) froze the bank accounts in two banks of a firm that traded in cryptocurrency.
The firm, Rise Vest Technologies Ltd, is one of the firms offering brokerage services for Nigerians to invest in foreign stocks.
The CBN had claimed, among others, that some of such deals contravened its directive and were part of what was making the naira weaker to the United States Dollar.
But Justice Taiwo O. Taiwo held that the CBN could not rely on a mere circular to freeze the bank account of a company using its bank accounts to trade in cryptocurrency.
The judge noted that the CBN failed to provide any law showing that it is illegal to deal in cryptocurrency in Nigeria, adding that the CBN circular, referenced as BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/014/001 of February 5, 2021, is not a law.
Justice Taiwo ordered the two banks to immediately grant the firm unfettered access to the accounts.
The court, in an October 18 ruling obtained by The Nation on Monday, made the order while deciding a Motion on Notice brought by Rise Vest Technologies, praying the court to discharge an interim freezing order granted by the court on August 17, 2021, in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/822/2021
The parties to the suit are CBN Governor (Plaintiff/Respondent) V Rise West Technologies Ltd (1st Defendant/Applicant) & five Others.
Rest Vest Technologies’ Counsel, Mr Seni Adio (SAN), had submitted that CBN did not present any evidence that the defendant engaged in any unlawful conduct, adding that the CBN did not meet its burden of proof in support of its allegations.
But CBN’s counsel Mr Mathew Onoja argued that the ex-parte orders of the court sought to be set aside were proper, lawful and valid.
