Family Members, Friends of Politicians
and political office holders risks jail terms if they allowed their company or bank account to be used to launder proceeds of illegal activities.
The acting Chairman of the Econonic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC Mr Abdulkarim Chukkol said this in his opening remark at the workshop on effective reporting of Economic and Financial crimes for Journalist in Ibadan.
Chukkol whose paper was presented by Acting Zonal Commander of the Ibadan Command of the EFCC, ACE I Halima Mustafa Rufa’u said ” Under money laundering act 2022, family members and close allies of politicians and public office holders. including top civil servants are now classisified as exposed persons.
He added that “The EFCC is determined to ensure that anyone who steals from the public treasury and all those who assist them to do so under whatever guise are brought under justice and ignorance of the law will not be an excuse”
He concluded by appealing to the media to lend a hand in helping to sensitize the youth against internet -related fruad activities and urges them to continue to align with the Progressive aspiration of Nigeria to see that corruption is reduced to to the barest minimum if not completely eliminated.
” The impact of the commission on the economic life of the nation is widely acknowledged through the commission’s enforcement activities, recoveries, running into several billions of Naira to have been recorded and the country’s anti money laundry framework strengthened.
” A key component of this framework is the reinvigoured Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, SCUML which is driving the fight against money laundering and illicit Financial flows among Designated Non- Financial Business and professions DNFBI’s . There is now a more robust regulation of the activities of these entitled which are vulnerable to money laundering”
During the workshop, papers were presented on new money laundering laws in relations to the activities of designed non financial Businesss and professions,by ACE1 Aso Larrys Peters, Investigative Journalism and Nigeria’s fight against Money laundering, by ACE1 Dele Oyewole and New trends in Cybercrime How not to become a victim by CSE Taibat Sallahdeen
