Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, raised an alarm that some unscrupulous individuals have resorted to another method of money laundering, stating that these criminals smuggle out raw gold from Zamfara state to foreign countries.<\/p>\n
In a statement in Abuja, Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who stated this while receiving a delegation from British\u2019s Serious and Organised Crime Joint Analysis, SOCJA for West Africa in Abuja, disclosed that the smuggled gold are laundered into cash outside the country by these unscrupulous individuals.<\/p>\n
He noted that in the Money laundering process, these individuals deny Nigeria the precious natural endowment that would have been processed locally and value gained from it.<\/p>\n
Magu appealed to the British Government to help Nigeria achieve the repatriation of the country\u2019s stolen money stashed away in banks in United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
He noted that it was worrisome that the wealth of the country had for a very long time, remained trapped in foreign countries, hindering infrastructural development of Nigeria and creating paucity of funds to run the country.<\/p>\n
He noted that the economy of Nigeria would have been much better if the stolen monies had been recovered and returned to the country\u2019s treasury.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cOur worry is that our money has been held for a very long time in foreign countries and if our money is returned, there will be improved infrastructural development in many sectors of the economy. If all the repatriated funds are pumped into the country, it will significantly enhance our abilities and capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
He frowned at the rate at which illicit funds are being moved away to Britain and other European countries, disclosing that the EFCC has carried out a lot of activities in local and foreign airports in trying to stop and apprehend looters exiting or entering the country with illicit funds.<\/p>\n
Magu noted that Nigeria, especially the EFCC, has a good working relationship with the British Government, and has also received lots of support from the UK Government.<\/p>\n
Also speaking, leader of the SOCJA delegation from the UK\u2019s National Crime Agency, Paddy Kerr, disclosed that the visit to the EFCC, followed the instruction from the British Government that each team under the Serious Organized Crime Joint Analysts, SOCJA, should go to every region in the world and try to get the picture of its peculiar organized crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to understand from the EFCC\u2019s perspective, what is driving crimes and corruption in Nigeria. What are the key things EFCC is doing that British can assist?\u201d Kerr asked.
\nAside Nigeria in West Africa, the assignment he said, will take the team to Ghana, Guinea and Senegal, in order to identify the threats and challenges, facing the countries of this region from organised crimes.<\/p>\n
Speaking further, he said: \u201cOur job is not to be the experts, but to try to understand what are the underlying causes and driving forces of serious organised crimes, so that we can have better programmes in the future and better direct our resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
He disclosed that they were looking at areas of illicit financial flows, bribery, embezzlement and contract negotiation, adding that \u201cwe are looking at collaboration that will enhance EFCC\u2019s abilities, intelligence gathering and sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called for synergy between the EFCC and SOCJA, noting that \u201ccriminals are constantly thinking of new ways to get away with their criminal activities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, raised an alarm that some unscrupulous individuals have resorted to another method of money laundering, stating that these criminals smuggle out raw gold from Zamfara state to foreign countries. In a statement in Abuja, Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who stated this while receiving a delegation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":8559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[106,68,204,150],"class_list":["post-13742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-economy","tag-efcc","tag-government","tag-zamfara"],"yoast_head":"\n