The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has introduced a reward scheme for people who can provide useful information that helps the agency recover Nigerian assets believed to have been taken abroad through corruption.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede announced that whistleblowers could receive between 2.5% and 5% of the value of recovered assets, depending on the circumstances. He made the announcement on Wednesday while speaking at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.
Olukoyede urged anyone with credible knowledge about money or other assets allegedly stolen from Nigeria and kept in another country to report such information to the authorities.
He said the reward was designed to encourage people to provide information that could lead to the recovery of assets and return funds to Nigeria.
“I welcome all of you to the world of whistleblowing. If any one of you is privy to where Nigerian assets are stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you; between 2.5% and 5%, it’s going to go back to you upon recovery. That is an incentive we have put in place to encourage people to come forward to give information about stolen assets. You never tell if you give any information here, some of you may leave this place, multi-millionaire in your lifetime.
“Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government.”
The EFCC chairman also explained that Nigeria uses a non-conviction-based process in certain asset forfeiture cases. Under the system, the commission can seek the forfeiture of property believed to be linked to criminal proceeds without first securing a criminal conviction.
According to him, the approach is similar to systems used in countries such as Australia and Canada.
He stated, “We have similar to what is obtainable in Australia and Canada that empowers us to apply the forfeiture to proceeds of what is suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Olukoyede also highlighted some major asset recovery cases handled by the commission.
He referred to 752 housing units recovered from former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele. He also spoke about an investigation involving former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN).
According to the EFCC chairman, investigators traced 57 properties to Malami during their inquiry and have so far secured the forfeiture of 48 of them.
He added, “Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past attorney-general of Nigeria. We discovered that within eight years of his being in office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able to forfeit about 48.”
Olukoyede said the commission would continue to rely on credible information and legal processes to trace and recover assets suspected to have been acquired through corrupt activities.
