BY MICHAEL EBOH
The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, yesterday, said it was investigating some commercial banks over their connivance with illegal fund managers, also called wonder banks, to defraud unsuspecting investors.
According to a statement by Yakubu Olaleye, Head, Media, SEC, said the Commission had sealed two illegal fund management outfits, Green Planet Association International, Bukuru and Wiscom Ventures, Jos North, while it was investigating connivance by the banks' branches in Plateau State with the illegal fund managers.
Mr Eric Elujekor, Head of Department, Enforcement and Compliance, SEC, who led the sealing of the two outfits in Jos, Plateau State, said in order to restore customers' confidence in financial institutions, SEC would carry out a thorough investigation on the issue.
According to him, the outfits were illegal because majority of them were not licensed by SEC.
He said, "Some of them were licensed as funds managers, but as fund managers if you want to mobilise fund and invest, you have to register the fund with SEC. Even those we registered as fund managers never registered the fund they are floating.
"Investors who volunteered information to SEC officials have said they were encouraged to part with their monies because they saw bank officials in those offices receiving money.
"They said the bank officials after receiving their money, now personally deposit it with their banks. So it is something that we need to investigate."
Olaleye said operators of some of the illegal funds outfits resisted attempts by SEC to seal-off their premises forcing SEC officials to beat a retreat.
At one of the illegal operators, Guarantee Global Resource (House of Wealth), one of the investors, Adams Saleh, said they were on queue waiting to be paid interests on their investment, saying that they trust the fund managers, who give them information on the telephone, after investing N500, 000.
"The investors blocked the team from taking away the manager of the company."
Elujekor, however, described the development as unfortunate. "It is unfortunate that they resisted out of ignorance and secondly out of what they perceived as an experience because they alleged that a lot of security agents came and took away the officials only to release them after extorting money from them," he said.
He assured investors that SEC would work towards releasing their trapped investments in the wonder banks.
"I am assuring the investors that if the money is in the banks and we are able to investigate the claims and they are genuine, we will be able to get the money out for them and give them.
"That is the only thing I can tell you. I will also advise investors to get in touch with SEC and lodge their complaints to get the right type of attention," Elujekor stated.
Vanguard Nigeria