The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Committee, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has disclosed that some politicians are colluding with bank officials to engage in illicit financial flow into the country.
Mr Magu, who stated this in a solidarity message to the 12 delegate conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on Tuesday, also stated that looters are devising new tactics to escape being caught by the drag net of the commission.
However, according to him, the commission’s collaboration with foreign partners have begun to yield results.
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Magu, who was represented by a Director in the Commission, Dr. Aminu Gusau, noted that as a resulf of the recent MoU signed with the United Arab Emirates, the EFCC had been able to trace several assets illegally kept there.
“Our various investigations, we have unearthed the collusion of bank officials and those of non-designated financial institutions with corrupt politicians in the country, which have brought about an increase in the instances of illicit financial flows into and out of Nigeria.
“We have realised that the more we spread our tentacles far and wide, even beyond the shores of Nigeria, to catch and bring to book those who hate corruptly enriched themselves from the commonwealth, and the more we are discovering the corrupt minded folks are evolving new techniques.
“Corrupt politicians have widened the circles of their corrupt activities by investing them in other African countries, so that in the long run, they sell them and deploy ways of repatriating them to Nigeria, even in the buildup to the election.
“But, by and by, we are also stepping up our game to combat and hip in the bud, new tactics being deployed to fraudulently divert and misappropriate funds meant for the welfare and good of all Nigerians. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
“MoU with the Economic and Organized Crime Office, in Ghana, the Ghana Financial Intelligence Centre and the Ghana police service to ensure that we keep track of such illicit inflow and outflow of suspicious funds.
“On our part, we are keenly monitoring the movement of cash in the system, and are awake to our responsibility of ensuring provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 are strictly adhered to, especially as it relates to election funding, and the now worrisome incidents of vote-buying.”
