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EFCC Moves to tackle Money laundering and Terrorist Financing

By on October 25, 2012

EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde

In a bid to tackle corruption and insecurity in the country, the Executive Chairman, Economic, and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde has called for a strong political resolve to deal with money laundering and terrorist financing.

According to Lamorde, support of an enduring political will is the solution to the understanding of the objectives of anti-money laundering campaign in the country. The EFCC boss made this declaration while speaking at an event organised by DataPro Nigeria Limited, on the theme, “Fighting Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Nigeria: Yesterday, Today, and tomorrow.”

Lamorde was represented by Hanafi Baba-Ahmed, an official of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the EFFC. He said lack of political will is one of the key problems confronting the country today.

“The absence of a centralized statistical data on Anti-Money Laundering/ Control of Financial Terrorism investigations, freezing, seizure, forfeiture and confiscation, are responsible for the dismal performance of Nigeria during the mutual evaluation process conducted by the Inter-Governmental Agency Against Money Laundering (GIABA), in 2007,” he said.

He blamed the situation on the absence of an inclusive anti-terrorism legal structure, lack of fair sanction regimes, fragile national and international dexterity in anti-money laundering regime and nonexistence of a centralized authority with the accountable for the execution of terrorist financing.

He said seizing and exclusion measures, in addition to lack of clear requirements in the laws for reporting transactions relating to terrorist financing or terrorist acts, are other hitches.

Reacting, the Managing Director, DataPro Nigeria Limited, Abimbola Adeseyoju confirmed the need to put in place capable outfits with indispensable legal backing to freeze , seize and confiscate any laundered assets or earnings, including instruments used or anticipated to be used for money laundering or terrorist financing.

Adeseyoju stressed that the country must attract best practices in handling offenders as enclosed in the 2012 review of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) laws.

“Today, it is no longer required for an offender to demonstrate lawful origin of the property before it is confiscated. Once the offender’s known source of income cannot provide the basis for such property, it should be enough room for confiscation and conviction,” he concluded.