Stolen funds now hidden in foreign countries, says EFCC

The Economic and financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), says politicians have devised a new strategy to hide stolen loots ahead of the elections.

Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Magu who revealed this at the delegates’ conference of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja on Tuesday, said stolen funds were now being hidden in foreign countries.

He explained that his recent trip to Ghana had given him an eye opener to this new strategy by politicians who invest looted funds in foreign countries and repatriate same to Nigeria for election purposes.

He however, noted that the commission would widen its search light in curbing vote buying during the election while its partnership with the NLC would better position the agency to fight corruption.

He said, “The NLC has partnered the EFCC at various events like anti-corruption walk, among other interactive sessions, strategically designed by the EFCC to strengthen our partnership with critical stakeholders, like the NLC, in the fight against corruption.

“I was in Ghana as part of this concerted effort of beaming our searchlight beyond the borders of Nigeria. What we discovered is no doubt staggering and mindboggling.

“Corrupt politicians have widened the circles of their corrupt activities by investing them in other African countries, so that in the long run, they sell them and look for ways of repatriating them to Nigeria, even in the buildup to the elections.

“We have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Economic and Organised Crime Office in Ghana to ensure that we keep track of such illicit inflow and outflow of suspicious funds.

“On our part, we are keenly monitoring the movement of cash in the system, and are awake to our responsibility of ensuring that provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 are strictly adhered to, especially as they relate to election funding, and the now worrisome vote-buying.”

In his remarks, the NLC Chairman, Ayuba Wabba, assured the commission of the readiness of Nigerian works to help fight corruption.

He called on removal of immunity from all public and government officials to enable a thorough fight against corruption.

He said, “Nigeria is not a poor country, we are among the best around the world but the challenge is how to harness the resources for the benefit of all.

“We demand that our political elite must find a way of removing immunity against criminal prosecution, especially corruption cases for all political office holders as it is the case around the world.”