Many costy forms of corruption cannot happen without lawyers, bankers and accountants who facilitate fraudulent transactions and help to hide proceeds of crime. Therefore, professionals must be on board in the anti-graft war. It is in recognition of this reality that the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) held a stakeholders dialogue on the role of professionals in curbing financial crimes. Deputy News Editor JOSEPH JIBUEZE reports.
A banker, who was a prosecution witness in a high profile case, once testified as to how her bank managed one of the accounts of a politically exposed person, who was on trial for corruption.
The banker admitted that she went to the accused person to get the deposits. The accused person never visited the bank to complete the know-your-customer requirements. It was not that “required” in the circumstance.
The banker admitted she managed the account based on mere verbal instructions from the accused person.
The banker had reason to suspect that the source of the money was illicit, but she never filed any report, nor did her bosses.
In February, a United Nations panel called for punitive actions against bankers, lawyers, and accountants who enable financial crimes.
It said governments around the world can finance critical action on extreme poverty, COVID-19, and climate crisis by recovering billions of dollars lost through tax abuse, corruption, and money laundering, all facilitated by professionals.
The panel of former world leaders and central bank governors, business and civil society heads and academics said as much as 2.7 per cent of the global GDP is laundered annually.
It said corporations engage such experts to shop around for tax-free jurisdictions that cost governments up to $600 billion a year.
The High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency, and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (FACTI Panel) called on governments to agree on a Global Pact for Financial Integrity for Sustainable Development.
The panel said stronger laws and institutions are needed to prevent corruption and money laundering, and recommended that “the bankers, lawyers, and accountants who enable financial crime must also face punitive sanctions.”
Typically, public funds, for instance, cannot be stolen, diverted or hidden in offshore accounts or locally without the active involvement of many facilitators.
The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) recognises that getting the buy-in of professionals in the battle against graft is critical.
Last Friday, it hosted stakeholders from different professional groups and associations to a virtual dialogue on The role of professionals in curbing financial crimes.
The dialogue explored ways to ensure that the experts give the right advisories and not aid and abet a crime.
Emphasis was laid on enforcing the laws, rules and ethics guiding professional conduct in various sectors.
There were also calls for sanctions/punishment for professionals who engage in illegality or facilitate graft.
The issue of political will to fight corruption was also raised, such as where a professional in government is involved.
Speakers included a former Deputy Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Prof Ernest Ojukwu (SAN); Chief Compliance Officer at First Bank, Adeyemi Oluyinka; Head, Credit Review at Polaris Bank, Mrs Idong Omo-Agege; Mr Soji Apampa of the Convention on Business Integrity and the president, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, amongst others.
Sagay: role of professionals critical
PACAC Chairman Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) noted that lawyers, accountants, engineers, bankers, quantity surveyors and surveyors all play major roles “as critical vectors” in the prevention or promotion of economic crimes.
He said their roles as professional advisers, when misused, can enable money laundering, illicit financial flows and many other types of financial crimes by their clients.
“This capacity to apply professional skills in this negative fashion is the very opposite concept to what we are here engaged in today, i.e., utilising acquired professional skills and capacity to fight corruption in society,” he said.
Noting that the fight against corruption cannot be won without the involvement of professionals, he emphasised that the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) must ensure the enforcement of each profession’s disciplinary measures of investigation, trial and punishment of errant members.
“All APBN-member professions have stringent disciplinary rules dealing with the corrupt misconduct of their members.
“All the laws governing professions contain fundamental principles of each profession and the ethical standards drawn from them.
“These include integrity, objectivity, transparency, professional competence, confidentiality and professional as against random conduct.
“There is, therefore, a need to challenge the professional sector to implement global industry best practices in the legal, accounting, property, building and company services sectors.
“For example, the issue of transparency in the beneficial ownership of companies is a subject of great discussion and one we believe would be of great importance in the fight against corruption if properly implemented,” Sagay said.
What is expected of professional bodies
Sagay referred to a paper by Mrs Oshuwa Gbadebo of the Convention on Business Integrity at a PACAC event in 2016 in which she listed what is expected of professional bodies in the fight against graft. They include:
- Ensure robust procedures are put in place by members to correctly flag and process transactions emanating from politically exposed persons and/or other high-risk sources.
- Support member-organisations in defining and inculcating appropriate standards of behaviour, developing the right cultures and strengthening the ability to effectively sanction deviant behaviour.
- Build collective action with civil society, business and regulatory partners to ensure there is no room for willful offenders to continue to perpetuate their corrupt deeds whilst still members of your institution.
“I completely concur with and endorse these suggestions. The fight against corruption is a collective one which needs the commitment of the business community and professional bodies if it is to succeed,” Sagay said.
‘Professionals liable for negligence’
A past president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Prof Segun Ajibola, who gave the keynote on behalf of APBN President, Akin Oyegbola, a surveyor, explained that each professional owes those who come across him in the ordinary course of business in that profession a duty of care.
He said: “If somebody presents himself to the public as a lawyer, accountant, civil engineer, architect, quantity surveyor, etc, those who come around to deal with him within the precincts of that profession need no specific proof of his competence before such dealings.
“If he subsequently fails to deliver on that professional line, he is liable for failing in his professional calling. He can be held liable for professional negligence.
“The challenge here is that when a quack presents himself to members of the public as say a medical doctor when he is not, and he holds on to the claim unchallenged for so long, he constitutes a risk and threat the public and the profession he professes to represent.”
‘Why professionals facilitate corruption’
Oyegbola admitted that professionals and professional bodies are always in the eyes of the storm because the public expects so much from them, but they have sometimes been found wanting.
On why fraud and other forms of misconduct occur among these elitist groups, he said some members of the professions are prone to temptations and fall for lucre.
“Hardly will there be any financial crime that is not traceable to banks and bankers,” he said.
In the case of building collapse, he said it will be hard for civil engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and representative bodies such as the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and the Institute of Builders wriggle out of responsibility.
“Lawyers are often accused of exploring and exploiting the loopholes in the provisions of the extant laws to defend criminals, at the expense of societal morals.
“On the subject matter of financial crimes, it usually involves a complex web of professionals such as bankers, information technology experts, accountants, estate managers, developers, etc who at one time or the other help to warehouse the proceeds of financial crimes to further an unwholesome intent.
“Those involved in money laundering also drag security operatives, customs and immigration officials, etc. along with them,” he said.
On limitations, he said some professionals lack the requisite training to recognise criminal intent.
“Many professional bodies do not have up to date competency framework to bring their members to currency,” Oyegbola said.
He added that it can also be a challenge where there is no code of conduct to bring the professionals to conformity with agreed standards, or where the code is weak or inoperative.
“Financial crimes will remain a challenge if the disciplinary procedures in the professional bodies are not sufficiently deterrent to members,” he said.
What professionals can do to curb financial crimes
Oyegbola believes the fight against financial crimes must be total.
“There is often the need for an appeal to people’s conscience, emotions and callings.
“Financial crime is a cankerworm and at times requires changes in societal values, norms, paradigms, to succeed in the crusade against the menace in this country,” he said.
He identified the key roles professional bodies must play to tackle financial crimes:
- Fighting the problem of quackery in their respective professions; and when quacks are discovered, they must be exposed within a twilight.
- Carrying out training and continued compulsory professional development to keep abreast of current developments in the professions
- Ensuring that risk management culture in professional institutions such as banks is proactive to detect and prevent financial and related crimes that may confront them.
- Making more investment in financial crime-preventive technology as financial criminals continue to mutate to beat operators and regulators in the financial industry.
- Professional bodies upscaling their ‘fit and proper’ criteria for admission into the professions to ward off members lacking in integrity and goodness of character.
- Ensuring that the issues of adequate remuneration and temporary staffing are reviewed regularly as most financial crimes in banks are often traceable to the so-called temporary staff.
- The Charter that establishes professional bodies must compel them to enforce disciplinary measures against their members for involvement in financial crimes within the ambit of the provisions of the Charter.
- Corporate and individual members of a profession must be compelled to report detected unwholesome practices to the professional body and subject the member to the statutory disciplinary procedure of the body, and where necessary to report such infractions by members to the law enforcement agencies.
- Professional bodies must encourage stiff sanctions against their members found to have been involved in financial crimes.
- Professional Bodies and their members must always show readiness to obey the provisions of the extant local and international laws.
- Professional bodies should organise periodic seminars, conferences, workshops on the items in the above paragraph to keep their members abreast of the developments globally on those subject matters.
- The judiciary, security operatives, ministries, departments and agencies must cooperate with the bodies to fight financial crimes.
Political will needed
One of the panellists in the technical session, Mr Soji Apampa, of the Convention on Business Integrity, urged professional associations to take on the role of regulators.
Reacting, the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveying president Mr Olayemi Shonubi, called for the support of the government in that regard.
He said: “We need to bring the government and officials into play. It’s not enough for people to look at only the professions.
“We have to look at what the government is doing to make sure that the professionals perform their roles.
“We also have professionals in government who are not playing the role of professionals.
“Can a regulatory board sanction a government-controlled professional? So, we also have that challenge.
“A case in point is the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Attorney-General.
“We need the support of government for some of the associations to be able to do their work effectively.
“For instance, to prevent corruption in construction, where corruption is said to be rampant, sometimes we find out that our roles are limited as gatekeepers. For instance, our role has been limited to only building.”
He said his association has been working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in monitoring and ensuring that monies budgeted for public projects go into the projects.
“We’ll continue along that trend while monitoring our members to be sure they do not fall afoul,” he said.
Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors, Emmanuel Wike, admitted that real estate was being used for money laundering, but that quacks were the most culpable.
“Our members are registered with SCHUML and they try to comply with the reporting requirements. Those who have not complied, we urge them to do so. We want to get the bad eggs out of estate surveying and valuation.
“It is not only the registered estate surveyors and valuers that are involved in real estate transactions.
“We have others who are not registered who carry out over 70 per cent of the transactions in real estate. How do we control such persons?
“I think the EFCC and the ICPC should beam their searchlight on those that do not belong to any regulatory body.
“A majority of those who facilitate money laundering are outside the profession because no good professional will like to get his hand burnt.
“Anti-graft agencies should carry the professional bodies along to reduce corruption, financial crime and money laundering.”
ICPC representative Mrs Azuka Ogugua said the commission has a national ethics and integrity policy, which has a section for professional bodies, as well as a consequence management template that includes rewards for compliance.
“We want to see the policy implemented,” she said.
PACAC Executive Director, Prof Sadiq Radda, called for personal commitment in the anti-graft efforts despite rules and regulations.
“So long as you as an individual is not committed to doing the right thing, we’ll continue to have problems,” he said.
PACAC member Prof Etanibi Alemika believes some lawyers have not shown much commitment to the anti-graft war.
He said they rather utilise legal loopholes to frustrate the fight.
“The dominant values in the society does not encourage doing the right thing.
“There is no commendation for doing the right thing, and there is no condemnation for doing the wrong thing.
“So, we need to pay attention to the crisis of our values, which we believe is the root cause of many of the problems we have today,” he said.
