Crimes Commission Blames Judiciary for 419
To name govs involved in illegal forex deals
From Kunle Aderinokun in Abuja
The judiciary and law enforcement agencies yesterday came under severe attack from the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for their alleged roles in aiding and
abetting financial scams, especially advance fee fraud, otherwise called '419'.
Chairman of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, particularly descended on the judiciary
describing its members as beneficiaries of 419. He said the judiciary has encouraged the
financial crime "because they benefited from the misfortune of the victims."
Ribadu also confirmed earlier claims by Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Esther Nenadi,
that governors convert allocations to states into foreign currency and siphon abroad.
He promised to release the names of the governors involved soon.
Ribadu was delivering a lecture in Abuja on the theme "Advance Fee Fraud and Money
Laundering in Nigeria: An Overview," at the two-day Third National Seminar on Economic
Crime, which opened yesterday at the Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Centre.
He said "law enforcement agencies and the judiciary often times turned a blind eye to the
criminal activities of these (419) perpetrators."
"Instead of fighting them, they provided the fraudsters with adequate protection via heavily
armed police or army escorts and in some cases the courts grant trivial injunctions in favour
of the criminals. The resultant effect of these were that, you have to indulge in 419 and other
forms of economic and financial crimes to be recognized by the society or government.
"In fact you have to excel in the art of stealing to be rewarded for a government position.
Hence, the task of changing attitudes, values and perception of the people about corruption
was a serious difficulty," he said.
He noted that "advance fee fraud or 419 became a profitable venture or rather a goldmine
for the perpetrator and their cohorts. That is why the principal culprit of 419 were then
regarded as models." This development, according to him, was the second biggest challenge
that faced the commission.
He added that, "today, the biggest challenge is how to make all Nigerians embrace and
internalize the new anti-corruption notion aimed at making people think anew."
Ribadu also said the commission would soon release the detailed list of governors who
siphon allocations to their states abroad.
He said the commission will blow the lid on the culprit governors through the Nigeria
Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), which would become fully operational next month
(July). NFIU is a unit under the commission set up to monitor money-laundering activities
in the country.
The EFCC boss explained that the Federal Government set up the NFIU as part of its
effort to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities in Nigeria. This,
according to him, is a precondition for the removal of Nigeria from the Financial Action
Task Force (FATF) list of non-cooperative countries and territories (NCCTs).
He said the NFIU would operate as an autonomous central national agency, which will
receive and analyze financial information such as the Currency Transaction Reports
(CTRs) and the Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) from financial and designated non-
financial institutions with a view to disseminating intelligence information arising thereof.
The CTRs, he said, would be above the threshold of : N1milion or its equivalent in the case
of an individual; N5 million or its equivalent in the case of a body corporate; and any
transfer to or from a foreign country of funds or securities of a sum exceeding $10,000 or
its equivalent.
He commended the Ministry of Finance for co-operating with the commission to check
incidence of money laundering in the country.
He vowed that the commission would close down any financial institution especially banks
that allow fraudsters to use its facilities for fraudulent transactions.
He said the Money Laundering Act defined financial institutions to include "banks, body
association or group of persons, whether corporate or incorporate, which carries on the
business of investment and securities, a discount house, insurance institutions, debt
factorizations and conversion firms, bureau de change, finance company, money brokerage
firm whose principal business includes factoring, project financing, export finance, project
consultancy, financial consultancy, pension funds management and such other business as
the Central Bank or other appropriate regulatory authorities may from time to time
designate."
He pointed out that "under sections 2(5) and 5(5) of the Money Laundering Act, wide
power is given to EFCC to demand and receive reports directly from financial and
designated non-financial institutions.�
Also, he added that "the general rule on the part of these institutions should be to report to
EFCC all transactions that are unusual as soon as they occur, there is no threshold set for
suspicious transaction reports."
"Both officer and corporate bodies are held liable where a director, manager, secretary or
other similar officer of a body corporate is found to have instigated, connived or have been
negligent in the commission of an offence under the Act.
"Upon conviction, the court could wind up a corporate body with all its assets and
properties forfeited to the Federal Government," he said.
He added "I would never allow what happened with Union Bank where a director acquired
10 per cent of the bank's share with the proceeds of advance fee fraud, to happen again in
any bank."
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Charles Soludo, who also spoke
at the occasion said the effect of fraud on the financial sector remains very serious and
continues to pose a challenge to the stability of the sector.
According to him, "fraud strikes at the very foundation of banking by eroding trust and
confidence, which are the pillars on which the system is founded."
He said the challenge was underscored by the role the financial institutions play in the
perpetration of financial crimes. "Financial institutions constitute a key element in the trail
and detection of proceeds of criminal activities as a result of the unique role they play in the
payment system and in the collection and transfer of financial instruments.
"Second, money laundering also represents a source of profit for banks too. Reforms
measure will thus imply cost not only in terms of compliance but also in terms of lost
profit," he said.
Soludo who was represented by Deputy Governor, Financial Surveillance, Mr. Tunde Lemo,
added that "these factors must therefore be taken into consideration in fashioning out the
appropriate framework for containing the menace."
|
