By PETER EGWUATU
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), yesterday announced new measures to tackle money laundering and also suspended the Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS). The apex bank suspects that the money laundering might be linked to early political campaigning for 2015 elections and thus putting pressure on the naira.

According to a circular released by the CBN and signed by Director, Trade & Exchange Department, Batari Musa, “ Available statistics indicate that Nigeria has become the largest importer of US Dollar due largely to importation of cash by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs). This development has implications for the country.

The WDAS is hereby suspended and its place Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) is hereby re-introduced with effect from Wednesday, October 2, 2013. The RDAS will take place on Monday and Wednesday for every week.

The CBN also revoked the operating licences of 20 Bureau De Change (BDC) due to mal practices. The apex bank explained that the affected BDCs did not render returns on the ultilsation of the foreign exchange purchased and also failed to provide documentary evidence that their purchase were utilized for eligible transactions in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibitions Act 20111( as amended), Terorism (Prevention) Act 2011(as amended).

In the circular, the CBN explained that its twice-weekly wholesale foreign exchange auction will be replaced with a retail version requiring dealers to reveal the identity of their buyers.

Corruption in the build-up to Nigeria’s 2015 election is partly responsible for the increase, Governor Lamido Sanusi said at the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting , adding that it is “absolutely wrong” for bureaux de changes to buy hundreds of millions of dollars without accountability.

Politicians in Africa’s top oil exporter often spend heavily on patronage to secure seats or pay off rivals, with at least some of this money acquired through corruption or links to crimes such as oil theft or kidnapping. Transparency International ranks Nigeria 139th out of 174 countries on its corruption perception index.

The CBN’s new measures do not affect the $250,000 weekly limit for foreign exchange dealers’ sales to bureaux de changes. However, dealers will now have to obtain prior approval to import foreign exchange banknotes, and recipients of proceeds from international money transfer firms such as Western Union and MoneyGram will be paid only in naira.

The limit on MasterCard and Visa naira debit and credit card spending abroad has been increased to $150,000 a year, from $40,000 a year, in an effort to increase transparency and reduce black market forex trading.