Nigeria’s EFCC Devoted to Combating Money Laundering in Real Estate Sector

Richard Marley
April 26, 2022
2 minutes read
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chairman says that the agency is committed to fighting money laundering & terrorist financing in the real estate sector.

On Monday, April 25, the chairman of EFCC Abdulrasheed Bawa addressed a workshop organised by the Inter-Government Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA). He spoke about the agency’s commitment to combating money laundering and terrorism financing in the real estate sector of the economy.

According to him, a Nigeria Evaluation Report reveals that Nigeria’s real estate sector is the second most vulnerable to money laundering.

The report, Mr Bawa said, placed Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Lagos, among the major cities where the property is regularly purchased, mostly in cash and often in foreign currencies.

The chairman said no one has been questioning the legality of such transactions. In June 2021, he said that the commission would be going all out to investigate money laundering in the real estate sector, as he stated that billions of naira were being laundered through the sector.

A 2020 report by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), a Transparency International (TI) affiliate, cities such as Abuja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt are Nigeria’s major black spots for high-level capital flights, with media and court reports pointing to the involvement of criminals running fraud syndicates, drug trafficking, and property buying and development.

The report explained that money launderers and criminals used third parties, professionals, family members, and close acquaintances to obtain high-value real estate.

It added that the buyers commonly opened accounts using pseudonyms to transfer illegal monies into high-value real estate purchases.

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IMF Urges Central Bank of Seychelles to Upgrade Transparency and AML Controls
The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) has been advised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to have transparent practices and AML controls.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged CBS, the Central Bank of Seychelles, to incorporate refined practices in different accountability and governance areas. These include confidentiality, supervisory & confidentiality policies along with internal AML/CFT protocols.

According to the statement by IMF, CBS is giving information regarding legal structure, mandate, and a few key elements related to anti-corruption arrangements, risk and human resource management, and accountability on its website.

The review of IMF stated, “To better support the public’s perception of the CBS as a well-governed institution, it should consider highlighting these aspects in its annual report, and/or provide additional information on its website, particularly on human capital management, anti-corruption policies and decision-making arrangements.”

As per IMF’s review, CBS needs to work on several elements, including information’s accessibility to its internal governance arrangements. It could be done by maintaining the Annual Report’s respective sections and website. Moreover, it must overhaul the proceedings by publishing its Code of Conduct and Ethics.

“The legal mechanism for confidentiality issues has been established, but the dissemination and disclosure of the confidentiality framework could be enhanced. The CBS discloses basic information on its AML/CFT supervisory powers and policies, as well as on its related internal control framework, but disclosures on the processes and outcomes of its AML/CFT external policies and internal controls are limited,” said CBS Transparency Code Review of IMF.

IMF review said that the ensurance of transparency practices with new functions and powers by CBS would be effective for its own benefit. The practices adopted by CBS must comply with the powers acquired by the coming legislative act.

IMF’s CBS Transparency Code Review said, “In the last few years, the CBS’s regulatory powers have been substantially expanded with the adoption of AML/CFT Act and Financial Consumer Protection Act. Moreover, the forthcoming Financial Stability Act is expected to provide a transparent legal basis for the CBS’s (and other financial sector regulators) actions on financial stability. These legislative acts will require an expansion of the CBS’s transparency practices so that the related CBS activities continue to be appropriately disclosed to stakeholders.”

The review aims to identify the strength and improvement areas of CBS by allowing it to evaluate its transparency practices. The review presents the map of CBS’s transparency choices in comparison to several practices in three different categories (core, comprehensive, and expanded).

Suggested Read: FCA Advises Firms to Embed Data and Technology to Combat Financial Crimes

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The banking sector has always remained a prime target of financial criminals due to its exposure to huge investments and funds. Criminals use a variety of advanced techniques to carry out money laundering inflicting a myriad of damages on the overall economic system. Several cases have been witnessed in the recent past where criminals were charged with committing bank fraud.

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US

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Nigeria’s EFCC Devoted to Combating Money Laundering in Real Estate Sector

An Overview of Perpetual KYC

The Need for Perpetual KYC in Banking Sector

Recent Crime Cases in the Banking Industry

Criminal Gang in US Charged with Bank Fraud and Money Laundering

Two Former Employees of Major Bank Charged with Loan Fraud

Global Regulatory Authorities Monitoring the Banking Sector

US

UK

Securing Banking Organizations Through Perpetual KYC

What Shufti Pro Offers?

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