The Nation Newspaper

Tag: EFCC

  • Court defers ruling in Sylva’s case

    Court defers ruling in Sylva’s case

    Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has deferred ruling in the criminal case involving former Bayelsa State governor, Timipreye Sylva and three others to May 14.

    Sylva was charged with Francis Okokwo, Gbenga Balogun, and Samuel Ogbuku by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly using three companies – Marlin Maritime Limited, Eat Catering Services Limited, and Haloween-Blue Construction and Logistics Limited to move about N19.2 billion from Bayelsa State coffers between 2009 and 2012, under false pretence of using the withdrawn money to augment salaries of the state government workers.

    Justice Mohammed was to rule Tuesday on an application filed by Balogun, praying the court to first determine the legal standing of the lead prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) to handle the matter, and also to determine his motion challenging the competence of the 42-count brought against them.

    When parties got to court on Tuesday, they learnt the ruling was not ready, prompting them to choose a fresh date.

     

     

  • Shell challenges EFCC’s ‘powers’ to collect debts

    Shell challenges EFCC’s ‘powers’ to collect debts

    AN oil firm, Shell Nigeria Gas Limited, has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to declare that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is not empowered to collect debt on behalf of anyone.

    It said the commission made it to pay $1.2million (about N239million) to a firm, which Shell claims it was not indebted to after EFCC allegedly threatened to arrest and detain its directors.

    The plaintiff is praying the court to hold that EFCC is not vested with judicial powers under Section 6 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution and therefore cannot act like a court.

    Shell filed three suits against EFCC claiming similar reliefs.

    In one of the suits in which Dec Oil and Gas Limited is the second defendant, Shell said it signed contract on March 29, 2000 with Dec for the construction of a Gas Distribution Pipeline at Agbara/Ota.

    However, Shell later terminated the contract in December 2001, following which Dec claimed that Shell was indebted to it and sued.

    The Federal High Court entered judgment in Dec’s favour, but Shell appealed against it.

    According to Shell, the Court of Appeal set aside the judgment, but Dec appealed to the Supreme Court.

    While the suit was pending, EFCC invited Shell with a view to determining “the civil contractual rights and obligations between the plaintiff (Shell) and the second defendant (Dec).”

    Shell said even though it drew EFCC’s attention to a pending court case, the commission “vehemently insisted, under threat of arrest and detention of officers of the plaintiff, that it must determine the civil contractual liability of the plaintiff…”

    The plaintiff said EFCC later found it “liable”, and Shell was made to pay $1.2 million.

    “The plaintiff was not indebted to the second defendant in respect of the contract,” Shell insisted.

    It added: “The plaintiff brought this action when the actions of the first defendant (EFCC) in collusion with the second defendant became unbearable.”

    But the EFCC and the second defendant denied the claims.

    The commission said: “EFCC was and is investigating alleged diversion of loans and advances made against the second defendant by some of its creditor-banks…”

    It added that a bank petitioned the commission and listed Dec as one of the customers who allegedly might have diverted loans and advances to frivolous projects not related to the original transactions entered into.

    Shell was “implicated” as being indebted to Dec, making it impossible for the company to meet its financial obligations to third party banks.

    The second defendant said Shell has no cause of action against it, adding: “This action is a ploy to overreach the Federal High Court in suit no. FHC/L/CS/1075/2002.”

    Yesterday, Shell’s counsel Babatunde Ogungbamila prayed the court for extension of time within which the plaintiff can file a counter-affidavit in opposition to Dec’s preliminary objection.

    Justice John Tsoho granted the application and adjourned till June 4 for hearing.

  • N25.7b theft charge against Atuche: EFCC seeks adjournment sine die

    N25.7b theft charge against Atuche: EFCC seeks adjournment sine die

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has asked a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja to adjourn sine die (indefinitely) its ruling on an application filed by a former Managing Director of Bank PHB, Mr. Francis Atuche.

    Atuche is seeking to quash the  N25.7 billion theft charge preferred against him alongside his wife, Elizabeth and a former Chief Financial Officer of the bank, Ugo Anyanwu.

    At the resumed sitting of the court yesterday, counsel to the EFCC, Mr Dele Adesina (SAN) in an application,  urged  Justice Lateef-Lawal Akapo of Lagos High Court, Ikeja to adjourn the ruling indefinitely.

    Adesina said the application  was pending the outcome of the appeal filed against the Court of Appeal judgment of November 21,2013  by the EFCC which struck out the theft charges preferred against a former Managing Director of Finbank Plc, Mr. Okey Nwosu and others for lack of jurisdiction.

    Adesina told the court that the EFCC had filed an appeal against the judgment at the Supreme Court, adding that the matter has being granted expeditious hearing due to its importance.

    In his response,  Atuche’s counsel, Mr Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) asked the court to reject the application. Oyetibo told the court that the application was intended at truncating the ruling which was listed as the business of the day.

    Atuche had approached the court for the quashing of the charge, arguing that like Nwosu’s case, the state high court had no jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

    Oyetibo had maintained that the cases were similar in nature because they emanated from capital market transactions.

    “The appellate court had held that such capital market-based matter was an exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court,” he said.

    To buttress his submission, he referred the court to the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, delivered December 31 last year in the case of Dr. Erastus Akingbola against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    According to him, the appellate court struck out the case against the former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, on  similar grounds.                                                                                            However, after taking the submissions of both parties,  Justice Lawal-Akapo said nobody could predict the time the Supreme Court would arrive at its verdict in the said appeal.

    He said judges at the lower court had waited for over a year for the apex court to clarify the ruling given by the Court of Appeal on the Okey Nwosu’s case.

    He adjourned the matter till April 22 this year for arguments on the application.

  • Court orders EFCC to produce detainee

    Court orders EFCC to produce detainee

    Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  to produce a detainee, Mr Uwem Antia, before him on April 16 when he will hear his suit seeking to enforce his fundamental rights.

    Antia and Alhaji Suleiman Yerima were arrested, following a petition against them alleging financial impropriety. They filed separate suits against EFCC, both before Justice Abang, challenging their arrest and detention.

    Parties in Yerima’s suit have argued the case, while Justice Abang will deliver his verdict on April 14.

    Antia, through his lawyer Mr Kabir Akingbolu, is seeking a declaration that his arrest and continued detention at EFCC’s Ikoyi office since March 3 without being charged to court is unconstitutional and violates his right to dignity and human liberty.

    He is praying for an order restraining the commission from torturing, humiliating or subjecting him to “inhuman and degrading treatment in order to achieve their ulterior motives.”

    Antia is seeking an order directing EFCC to release him unconditionally without further delay or charge him to court if there is any complaint against him. He is also demanding N100million as exemplary damages from the commission for allegedly violating his rights.

    Akingbolu said since his client was arrested, his relations, including wife and lawyers, were not allowed free access to him.

    Yerima, through his lawyer Mr Ali Adah, is seeking an order restraining EFCC or its officers from harassing, extorting and intimidating him or any of his friends and family members by indiscriminate arrest or re-arrest and detention without preferring any reasonable charge against him.

    He is also praying for an order of perpetual injunction restraining EFCC “from transferring or referring the applicant to the AIG Zone II Onikan Lagos, the Commissioner of Police Lagos State, SP Abba Kyari-O/C SARS Ikeja Lagos or any of their agents, privies, and or servants for the purpose of torture, further unlawful incarceration on this same case which the respondent is currently investigating.”

    Yerima wants the court to hold that his arrest and continued incarceration since March 3 without trial is unconstitutional.

    Adah is also praying for N100million as compensation to the applicant, as well as public apology by EFCC to be published in two widely read national dailies.

    Akingbolu said he requested for Antia’s bail but was refused. According to him EFCC officials insisted he must refund the money involved. He said on March 5, EFCC asked Antia to fill an assets declaration form, but when he refused, the officials vowed to “deal with him.”

    “True to the respondent’s threat, they brought a group of cameramen and photographer to come and snap them as criminals…,” the lawyer said.

    But EFCC, in a counter affidavit, denied the allegation. It said it received a criminal petition against Antia that he fraudulently obtained N672,750,000 from the petitioner. It said the applicant admitted receiving the sum from the petitioner in exchange for dollars.

    “The applicant did claim to have been given the dollar equivalent by Suleiman Yerima for onward payment to the petitioner…It was discovered that only $1,000,000 was paid to the petitioner out of $3,250,000 which is the dollar equivalent of the naira value paid to the applicant at the agreed exchange rate,” EFCC said.

    The commission said it served Antia with his bail terms, but he allegedly refused to meet them, instead demanding to be released unconditionally, following which it obtained a pre-detention order from the Magistrate’s Court on March 12 allowing it to remand the applicant till April 16.

    EFCC denied bringing photographers to snap Antia, urging the court to dismiss the case.

  • Of EFCC and stifling budget

    SIR: Personally, I have been following the story of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), with unalloyed interest since it was established in 2003 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

    Only recently, I had cause to, once again, give the Commission thumbs up when it excited Nigerians with the details of convictions it successfully secured in the past four years. It is heart-warming that it recorded a total of 126 convictions in 2014 alone, a development that dwarfed its achievements in 2013 when it recorded 117 convictions.

    In all of these, what is incontestable is the determination of the current leadership of EFCC to tether the rampaging bull of corruption in our society. But like a sour grape in the mouth, I was, to put it mildly, agitated when

    I read reports about the drastic reduction in its 2015 budget. Of course, the same fate is said to have befallen other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). But it is particularly disheartening that anti-graft agency like the EFCC is mostly affected.

    Against this backdrop, the question begging for a satisfactory answer is; how will EFCC and other anti-graft agencies carry out their statutory responsibilities without any hiccup when they are not adequately funded? It will be recalled that during the recent budget presentation by the Ibrahim Lamorde, EFCC Chairman, before the National Assembly, he pointed out that the budget proposal of N9.6billion as against the N9.4billion approved by the Budget Office leaves a gap of N110million, which could affect the operations of the Commission.

    It is a fact that the EFCC, among others functions, involve in assets recovery and the proceeds from forfeited assets are paid into the Consolidated Account. But what government actually does with the money leaves much to be desired. Therefore, in view of the funding challenges that EFCC is facing, the Federal Government should ensure that certain percentage of recovered assets are given back to them so as to enable them carry out their operations.

    No doubt, a well-funded agency will fight corruption to a reasonable end by removing Nigeria from the world’s corruption index and ensure her growth in the comity of civilised nations.

     

    • Ngozi Alexander Maraba, Nasarawa State
  • EFCC as determinant in Oyo 

    EFCC as determinant in Oyo 

    You be thief, I no be thief; you be armed robber, I no be armed robber…’ This evergreen satirical lyric from one of the music albums of the late Afro music legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, aptly encapsulates the recent exchange of diatribes between Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and one of his predecessors, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, over the refund of a contentious N500m allegedly looted from the state’s treasury.

    Ladoja is a politician well ingrained in the late Lamidi Adedibu’s political school of thought, having secured the Peoples Democratic Party’s ticket for the 2003 governorship election through the old rascal’s magic wand.

    Chief among what the followers of the deceased nemesis of Oyo State politics have in common is to paper over the cracks and unabashedly swear with the Holy books to justify their position. One is, therefore, not taken aback by the insistence of Ladoja that he knew nothing about the reported malfeasance, for which he was the guest of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a number of occasions in 2008. This is in the public domain.  Not even a written confession of one of Ladoja’s personal aides and two brokerage firms used to covetously corner about N2bn from the sale of shares of Oyo State in some blue chip companies, will move the ex-governor into changing his stoic position.

    But, the Ladoja aide had claimed that on Ladoja’s instruction, he spent the former governor’s share of the graft to purchase exotic vehicles and Government Quarters for him, with his boss maintaining his innocence. No doubt, Ladoja, who is the Accord Party’s Oyo State candidate for the April 11 governorship election, may have capitalized on the short memory and inability of Nigerians to hold politicians accountable for their deeds and misdeeds of the past.

    Sadly, a school of thought suggests that it will be difficult to adjudge whose government was more involved in corruption-related scandals between Ladoja and his successor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, upon which the EFCC temporarily made Oyo an abode in 2008. Incidentally, Akala is the state’s Labour Party’s candidate for the forthcoming governorship election. At a point, the two ex-governors engaged each other in a battle of wits.

    In a classic case of a pot calling kettle black, it was Ladoja that fired the first salvo when he reported the excesses of Akala to the EFCC shortly after wresting power from his former deputy in December 2006. Ladoja unwittingly stirred up the hornet’s nest by setting up an administrative panel, which indicted Akala of corruption shortly before the 2007 general election.

    As it later played out, Akala paid his former boss back in his own coin. Shortly after his pyrrhic victory in the 2007 governorship election, he pored through the books only to discover that Ladoja’s administration was clever by half judging by the manner it hurriedly sold the shares held by the state in some companies at the twilight of his administration.

    For starters, a section of Ladoja’s autobiography on Wikipedia (a reference website with global acclaim since 2001) titled ‘Later career,’ is instructive: ”On 28 August 2008, Ladoja was arrested by the EFCC over allegations of non-remittance of the proceeds of sale of government shares totaling N1.9bn during his administration. He was briefly remanded in prison by the Federal High Court in Lagos 30 August 2008. He was granted bail on 5 September in the amount of N100 million with two sureties for the same sum. In March 2009, a former aide (Adewale Atanda) testified on the way on which the share money had been divided between Ladoja’s family, bodyguard, senior politicians and lawyers.”

    On September 4, 2008, the EFCC said that the confession of Atanda, and other principal actors in the scam led to the recovery of N500m and a bullet-proof sport utility vehicle valued at N42m from them. Some 600,000 pounds sterling was said to have also been laundered through one of the women in Ladoja’s harem. He is today facing a N4.7bn money laundering and corruption charges, following a February 14, 2014 judgment by the Court of Appeal dismissing his prayer to be left off the hook.

    Until recently when he revived his ambition for the Office of the Governor, Ladoja did not deny all these revelations nor choose to square up with the EFCC for ‘libeling’ him. For indubitable political reasons, Ajimobi had recently, at different fora, refreshed the memory of the people of the state on how Ladoja and his gang refunded N500m to the coffers of the state in 2008. Curiously, but unexpectedly, Ladoja is still insisting that no such thing happened, regardless of unimpeachable publications in the public domain suggesting that he might have indeed soiled his hands.

    The alleged financial recklessness that tainted the public records of Ladoja is also trailing Akala, his successor. Since July 14, 2008 when the Punch newspaper blew the lid off EFCC’s inquiry into Akala’s alleged fiscal indiscipline, till October 7, 2011 when the agency’s operatives arrested and arraigned the ex-governor, newspapers were awash with his mind-boggling alleged penchant for public fund. The publication with a banner headline, ‘How Alao-Akala looted N1bn in 11 months – EFCC,’ exposed how the former governor allegedly used two publishing firms and another company to fleece the state of over N1bn. This was between January 12 and December 7, 2006 when Akala supplanted his former boss, Ladoja, following a phantom impeachment.

    In its July 18, 2008 cover publication, the Punch newspaper again exposed findings by the EFCC on how Akala allegedly routinely inflated contracts “with a view to enriching himself” during his first 11-month spell as governor. The damning publication exposed how two pliable publishing firms became a conduit through which over N1bn was siphoned from the treasury of the state.  To underscore their level of complicity in the shady deal, both publishing houses were made to cough out N22m, which invariably was their share in the illicit deal.

    The EFCC report also identified shady deals in a multi-million contract awarded by the Akala regime for the computerization of the state’s personnel payroll and production of staff identity cards. The agency said it indicted the ex-governor for abusing his office by “enriching himself contrary to his oath of office” and for betrayal of public trust.

    On the strength of the above, the EFCC arrested and arraigned Akala on October 12, 2011 upon a N11.5bn corruption charges. And on April 16, 2014 the Court of Appeal dismissed his suit seeking an order for the stoppage of his trial. As it stands now Akala and Ladoja have corruption charges hanging around their necks like an albatross.

    Granted that in the face of the law, an accused is presumed innocent until proved guilty by the court, one would have expected the two former governors to first clear themselves of these corruption-related charges before seeking to rule the state again. But, this is Nigeria where anything goes. Politicians are wont to take the people for granted because of the inability to properly scrutinize their credentials.

    It behoves the electorate in Oyo State to put the candidates jostling to rule them from May 29 on a scale of performance and antecedents and decide whether it will serve their interest better to put their destiny in the hands of gourmands that will fritter the people’s patrimony or those with clean records. It has been proved that it will be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a leopard to change its spot. The choice we make today will determine our fortunes tomorrow.

    •Akinkunle is a lawyer and human rights activist.

  • EFCC reads riot act to money launderers

    EFCC reads riot act to money launderers

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned  that it will  arrest and prosecute money lauderers either during or after the general elections.

    Its Head, Legal and Prosecutions, Lagos Zonal Office, Kwarbai Latong, gave the warning at an anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism conference by the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in Lagos.

    He said the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) would ensure that money launders are put on their toes.

    “So, basically, the NFIU is still doing its work, passing information on funds movement to the relevant law enforcement agencies. So, we are still working, and even after the election. The feedback we are getting translates to investigation. Information comes in, which becomes facts that will be investigated. So, basically, we keep getting these facts and we are working on them, and eventually they will become investigable facts,” he said.

    Latong said even after the election, if the commission got enough evidence on a case, it could go to court to prosecute the culprit.

    He said the EFCC is carrying out its statutory responsibility and will prosecute any politician involved in money laundering either during or after the elections.

    He said: “Once we gather evidence, the next thing is prepare charges in court and we prosecute such persons. Once these things are gathered, then you see us in court.

    “EFCC will initiate prosecution against those who we find out that there is evidence. It is not  a question as to whether the person is a politician or not. Anybody we believe we have evidence against which can form the basis of initiation of a charge, we will do that.’’

    He added: “It is the process/attempt to conceal the true origin and ownership of wealth. It is the process by which proceeds of criminal activities are disguised to conceal their illicit origin(s) and usually entails three stages: the infusion of the proceeds into the financial system (placement); transactions to convert or transfer the funds to other locations and/or financial institutions (layering) and the integration of the funds into the legitimate economy as “clean” money in various business ventures and/or assets (integration).’’

    He said the global community was concerned with issues related to money laundering and terrorist financing, noting that international, regional, bilateral and national cooperation in form of conventions, protocols, treaties and legislations had been put in place.

    Such conventions include the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crimes (UNTOC), United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol On the Fight Against Corruption and the African Union (AU) Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.

    Latong said the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and the Financial Action Task Force were also established. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), he said, is an independent intergovernmental body established in 1989 by the Minister of member-states.

     

  • EFCC clears Soludo of N750m contract scam

    EFCC clears Soludo of N750m contract scam

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde yesterday said former Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) Governor Charles Soludo has been cleared of complicity in the N750m Polymer scandal. Nothing was found against him, he declared.

    He also assured Nigerians that the EFCC will remain neutral throughout the elections.

    Lamorde, however, denied knowledge of any watch-list by the anti-graft commission, as being speculated

    He advised Nigerians to be cautious of the modus operandi of fraudsters in order not to fall victim of their antics.

    Lamorde, who made the clarification while presenting “Red Alert on Scam”, a special publication of the EFCC, in his office, said: “We invited Charles Soludo in respect of the printing of currency notes. From the investigation conducted, we did not find anything Soludo was involved in.

    “Our partners from the United Kingdom (UK) wanted certain information. So, Soludo has been exonerated.”

    Reacting to his clearance, Prof. Soludo was quoted by online medium Premium Times as saying: “I am impressed by the professionalism of the Commission, especially in making the result of its investigation public. In early November last year (2014), I wrote to the Commission, demanding for the outcome of the investigation, and it replied, stating that its investigation did not establish any culpability on my part. I simply put the letter in my file.

    “Well, I always knew that there was nothing to it as far as I was concerned, and I did not know anything about the said allegations. What impresses me is that the Chairman and the Commission have displayed professional integrity by making its findings public, especially in the light of the negative publicity that attended my invitation and interview at the Commission in January 2013. I left office six years ago, and I believe that this is good for Nigeria.”

    On alleged watch-list foisted on the agency by the Presidency, Lamorde said there was no such document.

    He expressed worries over the circulation of a fake letter purportedly from the office of the Chief of Staff to the President directing the Commission to investigate some political figures.

    He said the list was unfounded and unfortunate.

    He said the agency had made up its mind to remain neutral during the electioneering to avoid being accused of bias.

    He said: “They said there is an order to arrest the leadership of the party. We do not want to get involved in any political discussion.

    “We have tried to remain neutral since the campaigns started. Let us do the last lap peacefully.

    “I like to sound a note of warning here that the Commission will no longer tolerate people dropping its name to further their political ends. The EFCC is not a political body and will not allow itself to be dragged into political fray by desperate politicians”, Lamorde warned.

    “The EFCC does not need the prompting of anybody to open investigation against anyone that has violated the law. But it does the nation no good when politicians seek to use the name of the Commission to further their political objectives”.

    The EFCC boss said the prosecution of politicians with cases in court will continue after the poll.

    He said: “Corruption has become an issue in this political campaign. We cannot stop people from talking. The irony of it is that, some of them talking about corruption are standing trial. They are busy playing to the gallery. It is unfortunate. They do not see themselves first.

    “Some of them have no business taking about corruption. They are corruption personified. We want to remind them that they still have their day in court.

    “If the media had been covering these cases in court, these politicians would not have been talking? The criminal justice administration of the country has to be looked at. You cannot fast track criminal cases in court.”

    He asked Nigerians and government agencies to beware of increasing activities of fraudsters including employment racketeers.

    He said: “Many agencies of government are targeted by syndicates of fraudsters who send out false notices of recruitment and go ahead to demand fees from unsuspecting members of the public to process their applications.

    “Another dimension to the scam is for the fraudsters to create a website, purporting to be a portal for employment processing.

    “Such would include a phone number, which the job seeker is told to call. As soon as the job-seekers call, the fraudster begins to make financial demands, requesting the caller to deposit money in a particular bank account.”

     

  • $182b laundered in nine years, says EFCC

    $182b laundered in nine years, says EFCC

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said in nine years, $182 billion was siphoned from the country and laundered.

    Its Head, Legal and Prosecutions, Lagos Zonal Office, Kwarbai Latong who spoke yesterday at a media briefing in Lagos on anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism, said the figure was compiled by the United States based Global Financial Integrity, relying on data from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    The forum was organised by The Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

    Latong said Nigeria ranked eight out of 20 countries notorious for illicit financial outflows, adding that the proceeds of money laundering are infused into the financial system and transferred to other locations and/or financial institutions followed by the integration of the funds into the legitimate economy as “clean” money in various business ventures and/or assets.

    He said: “Financial crime is prevalent in all facets of the society, public and private, and exists in the political, economic, social, religious and cultural spheres. It has done the greatest harm to Africa’s economic, political and social development, undermining the legitimacy of public institutions. The illicit acquisition of wealth have had damaging effect on society, ethical values, justice, the rule of law and sustainable developments in Africa.”

    He explained that money laundering also undermines the integrity of financial institutions and markets as laundered money ultimately flows into global financial systems adding that any country integrated into the international financial systems is at risk.

    He added that an estimated $100 billion was corruptly exported from Nigeria between the mid 1980s and 1999 while more than $1 trillion illicit funds flowed into the United States annually through the international financial systems. He said this includes proceeds from drug trafficking and other forms of economic and financial crimes.

    GIABA Director General, Adama Coulibaly said the possible social and political costs of money laundering, if left unchecked, are serious.

  • EFCC, Police, others plan security centre to curb bank frauds

    EFCC, Police, others plan security centre to curb bank frauds

    The Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) is to establish a Security Operations Centre (SOC) to combat bank frauds.

    NeFF comprises the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Police, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and banks.

    Its Chairman, ‘Dipo Fatokun, said at its first quarter meeting in Lagos last weekend, that the centre would be owned by the banks but controlled by CBN. It would be carried out of the Nigeria Banking Risk Information Centre (NIBRIC).

    Fatokun, who is CBN’s Director of Electronic Payments Unit, said NIBRIC is a model of the South Africa Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC).

    NIBRIC, he said, would start small, think big and scale up fast with the first phase focusing on commercial crime, setting up of a forensic laboratory and a SOC Centre.

    The centre would be not-for-profit and be  dedicated to managing banking risk, with special focus on fraud.

    Fatokun said, there is need to copy what is done in other countries in order to tackle the menace at home.

    The SOC, which will be real-time, is a byproduct of an understudy by NeFF team of SABRIC and its successes in combating financial crime, he said.

    According to him, the project will create a safer payment system, increase user confidence and facilitate collaboration among players in the payments ecosystem.

    NIBSS’s Head, Information System Security Olufemi Fadamo said there is a rise in across the counter and insider-related bank frauds, attributing it to the growth in the use of mobile banking, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), e-commerce, Point of Sale (PoS) machines, cloud computing and social media.

    He said between 2013 and last year, reported attempted frauds stood at N26.9 billion, putting the actual loss at N6.9 billion. He added that the figures are only for transactions processed through the Nigeria Central Switch.

    This year, Fadamo said, it is expected that fraudsters would shift their target from banks to Other Financial Institutions (OFIS), such as microfinance banks, primary mortgage banks, deposit non-financial institutions, among others, because commercial banks are strengthening their processes and technologies.

    General Manager, Union Bank Plc and President, Information Security Society of Africa- Nigeria (ISSAN), David Isiavwe, said banks were attractive targets to cyber-attackers because the world is a global village with no boundaries to communication.

    He said an effective security strategy, like SOC, is required to consolidate security solutions in banks, such as Antivirus, firewalls, intrusion detection system, web application firewall, network access control (NAC) among others. The SOC, he said would  optimise the productivity and the efficiency of users managing these solutions.

    Isiavwe described a SOC as a centralised unit that can be used to manage information, applications, databases internet security to provide continuous prevention, protection, detection and response capabilities against modern internet attacks. A SOC within a building or facility, he said, is a central location from where staff supervises the site, using data processing technology.