EFCC records over 2,700 financial crime convictions in 2022.

• The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recorded over 2,700 financial crime convictions in 2022
• EFCC’s Executive Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday
• He added that some financial crimes are preventable if only members of the public have the right information.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recorded over 2,700 financial crime convictions in 2022, the highest in the history of the agency. EFCC’s Executive Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday.  The statement noted that this is the highest conviction the EFCC has recorded in the past years, adding that the commission is committed to fighting all forms of economic crimes in Nigeria.

Bawa said, “Without sounding immodest, our record over the years distinguishes the EFCC as perhaps the most effective law enforcement agency in Nigeria. We have strived to up the ante since my appointment over one year ago. In my time in charge, we have engineered a number of reforms and restructuring whose impact is already being seen in the terms of the number of stolen assets recovery and convictions for financial crimes.

“In 2021, the Commission secured 2,220 convictions. This has jumped to 2,701 by October 7, 2022. Assets running into several billions of Naira have also been recovered by the Commission. In spite of these, we are not resting on our laurels because there is more ground to be covered. We believe that more needs to be done to deter citizens from getting involved in financial crimes and discourage the theft of public resources.”

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He added that some financial crimes are preventable if only members of the public have the right information.

“It is for this reason we are intensifying our public enlightenment engagements which, in a few weeks’ time will witness the formal launch of the EFCC Radio.”

He stated that the nation’s legislative reforms that recently birthed the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, of 2022 will further aid the war against financial crimes in Nigeria.

“There are certain provisions of this new law that I believe will affect you directly or indirectly. One is the secrecy of financial transactions. The new law criminalizes the operation of numbered accounts and also mandates financial institutions to ascertain the beneficial owners of accounts before opening such accounts.

“There is a more robust requirement for due diligence and reporting obligation by financial institutions and non-financial business and professions to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML),” he added.