Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa has revealed that illicit financial operations deprive the country of resources needed for development.
This was stated on Wednesday by the EFCC chairman at a conference organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), in Abuja.
The conference was focused on addressing corruption and illicit financial flows (IFFs), especially with cases involving international companies and foreign countries.
According to the EFCC chairman, the methods deployed by perpetrators and their foreign accomplices to hide illicit funds include, chain of ownership, nominee shareholding, trusts, and anonymous ownership.
He added that countries need to be more transparent on transactions involving illicit funds.
“The IFFs in Nigeria are perpetrated by corrupt leaders and their foreign accomplices and multinational companies. The situation we have seen in Nigeria is that corrupt government officials and their private sector collaborators use fronts and ownership structures that do not provide sufficient information about the true identities of the natural persons behind the title to hide illicit money and transfer the same to safe havens in foreign jurisdictions,” he said.
“The real problem is not just about anonymity, but the lack of transparency on the part of the countries where these monies are held, to the countries where these monies are stolen from
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