Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has called for a law to enable the officers of the Commission to arrest and prosecute people with questionable, unexplained wealth.
According to him, that is one of the strong methods for checking the criminal activities of treasury looters in the country.
The Commission’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, in a statement, quoted Olukoyede as making the call at a two-day International Law Conference organised by Christopher University, Mowe, Ogun State. The theme of the conference is: “Unexplained Wealth in the Global South: Examining the Asset Recovery and Return Trajectory.”
Olukoyede said that several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Mauritius, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Trinidad and Tobago, have embraced the Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) since it came into force in 2018. He said that for Nigeria, the EFCC is still relying on the provisions of Section 7 of its Establishment Act to check the menace.
“The issue of unexplained wealth is not a local issue. There are jurisdictional legislations across the world to tackle it. To date, countries of the world are faced with criminalities emanating from money laundering practices and illicit funds.
“This circumstance led to the promulgation of Unexplained Wealth Orders, UWOs that came into force in 2018. Several countries, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Mauritius and African countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean have come up with UWO.
“Nigeria is yet to come up with a national legislation on it.”
The EFCC boss, who was represented at the conference by the Abuja Zonal Commander, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, Adebayo Adeniyi, stressed that treasury looters would have little cover if the issue of unexplained wealth is tackled more seriously across the world.
“In Nigeria today, unexplained wealth has become practical means of tracing, identifying, investigating and prosecuting corruption cases.
“As an anti-graft agency, suspects of any economic and financial crimes are usually required to declare their assets in the course of investigation.
“The basis for this is to properly establish their true asset base and their linkage or otherwise to any act of corruption. Owing to the absence of legislation on the issue of unexplained wealth, the EFCC continues to rely on provisions of Section 7 of its Establishment Act to handle it.”
Olukoyede said that the concerns about unexplained wealth relates more to asset tracing, investigation and recovery, adding that nations are rapidly settling for non-conviction-based asset forfeiture.
“The reason for this is simple because unexplained wealth can only be beneficial to the state if they are forfeited. “Since inception, the EFCC has secured sizable assets from fraudsters. They range from houses, vehicles, barges, jewellery, money, furniture items, landed properties, among others.”
He said that the procedures for asset forfeiture usually involve the prosecution of the suspected fraudster, as assets may be forfeited on an interim basis or be forfeited permanently, depending on the position of the law and the court.
Source: NAN.
