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By Lizzy Chirkpi
Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, has convicted AP Mcnisi Initiatives Limited for operating a Bureau De Change (BDC) business without a valid licence, imposing a fine of ₦500,000.
The company was prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a one-count charge related to unlawful foreign exchange transactions.
According to the charge, the firm, on June 7, 2024, conducted a foreign exchange transaction with one Adeoye Phillips Tomilola outside the official market without authorisation from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), contrary to Section 11(1)(a) of the National Economic Intelligence Committee Establishment Act and punishable under Section 11(2) of the same Act.
Upon arraignment, the company pleaded guilty.
Reviewing the facts of the case, prosecution counsel A.A. Usman called an EFCC operative, Bello Buhari Kobi, who told the court that the Commission received a petition alleging that the defendant collected ₦10 million through its Guaranty Trust Bank account to convert to $9,000 but failed to remit the dollar equivalent to the complainant.
Investigations, he said, established that the company was not licensed by the CBN to operate as a BDC. Adekunle Fadibe Mcnisi, identified as the alter ego of the firm, reportedly admitted that the company had not secured the required approval from the apex bank.
Kobi further informed the court that the complainant had since been refunded.
The prosecution tendered the petition, bank correspondence, the bank’s response, and the extra-judicial statement of the company’s alter ego, all of which were admitted in evidence.
Delivering judgment, Justice Dipeolu convicted the firm and ordered it to pay a fine of ₦500,000. The court also ruled that failure to pay the fine would result in the forfeiture of the company’s assets valued at ₦500,000 to the Federal Government of Nigeria.