The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has called for legislation against unexplained wealth to check the criminal activities of treasury looters.

EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale quoted Mr Olukoyede as making the call at a two-day International Law Conference organised by Christopher University, Mowe, Ogun State.

The conference theme is “Unexplained Wealth in the Global South: Examining the Asset Recovery and Return Trajectory”.

“The issue of unexplained wealth is not a local issue. There are jurisdictional legislations across the world to tackle it.

“To date, countries of the world are faced with criminalities emanating from money laundering practices and illicit funds. This circumstance led to the promulgation of Unexplained Wealth Orders, UWOs, that came into force in 2018.

“Several countries, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Mauritius and African countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean have come up with UWO. Nigeria is yet to come up with a national legislation on it,” he said.

The EFCC boss, represented at the conference by the Abuja zonal commander, assistant commander of the EFCC, ACE1 Adebayo Adeniyi, emphasised that treasury looters would have little cover if the issue of unexplained wealth were tackled more seriously across the world.

“In Nigeria today, unexplained wealth has become a practical means of tracing, identifying, investigating and prosecuting corruption cases,” said Mr Olukoyede.

He stated that the anti-graft agency asks suspects to declare their assets during investigation to establish their worth and linkage to corruption.

“Owing to the absence of legislation on the issue of unexplained wealth, the EFCC continues to rely on provisions of section 7 of its Establishment Act to handle it,” he said.

Mr Olukoyede said the concerns about unexplained wealth bordered more on asset tracing, investigation and recovery. He added that the commission had secured sizable assets from fraudsters since inception.

The EFCC boss stated that “procedures for asset forfeiture usually involve the prosecution of the suspected fraudster, as assets may be forfeited on an interim basis or be forfeited permanently, depending on the position of the law and the court.

“However, whether interim forfeiture or permanent forfeiture, what is important is for every ill-gotten wealth to be recovered and kept with the government,” he added.

Speaking on the hurdles in asset recovery in Nigeria, Mr Olukoyede punctured the technicality of prosecution of looted assets that sometimes require publication in major newspapers.

“This takes time. Sometimes, the delay may come from some fraudulent claims to frustrate the forfeiture proceedings. In all of these, what is paramount is the facts available to the court.

“At the end of it all, assets are always recovered permanently for the benefit of all.

“Also, recovery of stolen funds stashed in foreign jurisdictions is more complex. Institutions of the state are usually involved in the recovery of such funds, and this takes far more time and effort.

“The return trajectory involved in this may even take years, and this can be really frustrating to anti-corruption agencies or government institutions involved in the recovery. Nigeria is having such instances in the recovery of looted funds by many government officials,“ he said. 

(NAN)