EFCC, NSE sign MoU to fight fraud in capital market

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday expressed their preparedness to check fraud in the Nigerian capital market.

The management of the two institutions made the pledge in Lagos while signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)..

The EFCC Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde, said that the MoU was aimed at helping the NSE to achieve the highest level of transparency and accountability in its operations.

“The commission, has in the last 10 years, uncovered all the criminally-ingenious strategies used by unscrupulous capital market players to scam and defraud helpless citizens of their life-savings and investments.

“Some of these methods, which are very much known to many of you, include market (shares) manipulation through insider dealings, fraudulent falsification of accounting records, clearing of third party individual warrants and impersonation of dead investors,’’ Lamorde said.

According to him, the commission has 20 cases at various stages of prosecution across the country and within 10 years intervened in billions of naira capital market infractions.

The EFCC boss said that there were still grey areas which the commission needed the operators and regulators of the capital market to do more work.

He said this should be with strict compliance with the requirements of the Money Laundering Act 2011, as amended.

Lamorde said that Section 5 of the Act placed emphasis on customer due diligence and placed on the NSE the enormous responsibilities of obtaining, verifying and keeping records.

“You are mandated under the Act to train your employees and designate compliance officers at management levels and in all branch offices.

“You should also be aware of the provisions of Sections 6, 7, 10 and 11 which spelt out reporting obligations.

“It needs emphasising that the penalties for non-compliance are grave for both individuals and corporate bodies,” the EFCC chairman said.

Mr Oscar Onyema, the Director General of the NSE, said that the collaboration would pave ways for thorough investigations and effective preservation of documents and records.

Onyema said that the collaboration would also open windows of timely prosecution and regular updates in respect of capital market-related offences.

He, however, expressed optimism over enhanced synergy from the MoU to produce results both in the short and long term. (NAN)