The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), has seized large
sums of dollars from Nigerians.
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The EFCC said that some Bureau De
Change operators who were recently
arrested in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of
Nigeria were in possession of over $6
million.
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The EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa,
who made this known while speaking on
the Nigerian Television Authority’s (NTA)
said that the arrests were part of efforts of
the anti-graft agency to sanitise the
foreign exchange sector.
Speaking on “Sanitizing Ungoverned
Operators in the Forex Sector” Bawa who
was represented by the Commission’s
Director of Operations, Abdulkarim Chukkol,
said that the EFCC’s arrest of BDC
operators and currency speculators in the
parallel market was not indiscriminate but a
product of intelligence.
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He said that “At EFCC, we work with
intelligence and with other stakeholders; and
when we talk of illegal forex operators you
cannot just invite people on the street even
though sometimes you could, but generally
you do not have a choice but to make an
arrest.”
“Some were arrested with excess of $6
Million (Six Million United States Dollars),
others with $2 Million (Two Million United
States Dollars) and we know that these
huge sums were not meant to be used in
buying goods but stolen monies being
laundered out of the country.”
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He noted that the commission did not only
recover some of the monies but secured
their forfeiture to the Nigerian government
while the culprits were prosecuted.
Bawa also emphasised the need for active
inter-agency and stakeholder’s
collaboration, pointing out that many of
the over 6,000 registered BDCs do not
belong to the Association of Bureau De
Change Operators of Nigeria and therefore
out of the orbit of regulators.
He said that “The CBN guidelines are clear
regarding returns by BDCs, but how many of
them do this.”