Bawa
…Billion naira assets recovered
Juliana Francis
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), announced today that its convictions scale has jumped from 2220 convictions to 2701 in less than a year.
This was the information passed to a selected crop of journalists by the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, during a media workshop on, “Financial Crimes Reporting,” held at the Commission’s Lagos Zonal Command, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi.
Bawa also revealed that aside from the laudable convictions achieved, the Commission has also recovered money running to billions of naira.
His words: “In 2021, the Commission secured 2220 convictions. This has jumped to 2701 by October 7, 2022. Assets running into several billions of Naira have also been recovered by the Commission.
In spite of these, we are not resting on our laurels because there is more ground to be covered. We believe that more needs to be done to deter citizens from getting involved in financial crimes and discourage the theft of public resources. We believe that some of these crimes could be prevented if the members of the public have the right information. It is for this reason we are intensifying our public enlightenment engagements which, in a few weeks’ time will witness the formal launch of the EFCC Radio.”
The chairman also mentioned the legislative reforms that recently birthed the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, saying it will affect Nigerians directly or indirectly.
He urged Nigerians to get familiar with this new law so as not to run afoul of its provisions and to help to educate other citizens.
“I am sure that most of us are aware of the legislative reforms that recently birthed the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022. There are certain provisions of this new law that I believe will affect you directly or indirectly. One is the secrecy of financial transactions. The new law criminalizes the operation of numbered accounts and also mandates financial institutions to ascertain the beneficial owners of accounts before opening such accounts. There is a more robust requirement for due diligence and reporting obligations by financial institutions and non-financial businesses and professions to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, SCUML. I enjoin you all to get familiar with this new law so as not to run afoul of its provisions and to help to educate other citizens,” said Bawa.
Speaking directly to the crop of journalists, Bawa, who spoke through the Lagos Zonal Commander, Mr. Ahmed Ghali said: “This training programme is specially designed to promote the ethos of your noble profession further and also impart your proficiencies, particularly in financial crimes reporting. I would like to state that this gathering is evidence of the importance that the EFCC attaches to the media as a partner in the fight against economic and financial crimes. The role of the media in projecting the work of the EFCC over the last 19 years is remarkable. It is only fitting that we reciprocate by seeking to further expand your capacity to deliver this onerous national duty in expanding the space of transparency and accountability in our public life.”
He noted that even with all the milestones recorded by the Commission since its inception, EFCC has never been under the illusion that it could fight and win the war on corruption without the support of other stakeholders. He stated that as the fourth Estate of the realm, the media has a constitutional responsibility to fight corruption and other forms of economic and financial crimes.
He stressed that the EFCC will like to see greater collaboration and information sharing between the media and the Commission.
He said: “By the nature of your work, you are able to mine rich veins of information from a range of sources and this is an invaluable resource that will help us to do our job better where it is shared. Many of you have played commendable roles in bringing the Commission’s efforts at combating corruption and economic and financial crimes to the front burner and improving public consciousness about the ills of financial crimes. We can only ask for more support, while also urging you to do your work with the utmost sense of responsibility. Let me use this opportunity to restate the Commission’s unwavering commitment to fighting all forms of economic crimes in Nigeria. Without sounding immodest, our record over the years distinguishes the EFCC as perhaps the most effective law enforcement agency in Nigeria.
“We have strived to up the ante since my appointment over one year ago. In my time in charge, we have engineered a number of reforms and restructuring whose impact is already being seen in the terms of the number of stolen assets recovery and convictions for financial crimes.”
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