Information filtering in from the United Arab Emirates indicates that some banks are closing accounts of Nigerian politicians, students and business operators in Dubai.
Thousands of Nigerians with bank accounts in Dubai have received notices that their bank accounts have been closed, without explanation. Some say the banks are trying to eliminate risk, but a source in the United Arab Emirates, ministry of finance said that the policy is to prevent money laundering, especially from Nigerian politicians hiding under the pretext of paying school fees for their children to smuggle millions of dollars into the country.

It was gathered that the Dubai Financial Services Authority, DFSA, that the move is a fallout of the country’s new Central Bank Laws prohibiting Nigerians not working in the UAE from possessing accounts in any local or foreign banks.

With the new monetary laws by the Emirate apex bank, all accounts of Nigerians that are not linked to work in the UAE have been closed and cheques issued in favour of the customers cashable in five working days.

Investigations revealed that politicians who have stashed away huge sums of money in Dubai and other locations in the UAE are already panicking over the fate of their money and are moving to safeguard their finances.

“It’s going to be a huge scandal for politicians and businessmen who go to Dubai to hide their money. And if really they are closing non salary accounts of Nigerians in Dubai, we are going to see ‎something we have never seen before, scandals,” a top government source said.

Politicians with huge sums of money in Dubai are mounting pressure on the federal government to intervene and prevent a breakdown of diplomatic ties between both countries.