The legislative arm of Nigeria has been called upon to initiate a law against unexplained wealth as a way to checkmate the criminal activities of treasury looters in the country.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, made the call at a two-day International Law Conference with the themed: ‘Unexplained Wealth in the Global South: Examining the Asset Recovery and Return Trajectory’ organised by Christopher University, Mowe, Ogun State.
The EFCC boss maintained that though several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Mauritius, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Trinidad and Tobago, had embraced the Unexplained Wealth Orders, (UWOs) since it came into force in 2018, he said the EFCC still relied on the provisions of Section 7 of its Establishment Act to check the menace.
“The issue of unexplained wealth is not a local issue. There are jurisdictional legislations across the world to tackle it. Till date, countries of the world are faced with criminalities emanating from money laundering practices and illicit funds.
“This circumstance led to the promulgation of an 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.
Olukoyede who was represented by the Abuja Zonal Commander and Assistant Commander of the EFCC, (ACE1), Adebayo Adeniyi, stressed that treasury looters would have little cover if the issue of unexplained wealth was tackled more seriously across the world.
“In Nigeria today, unexplained wealth has become practical means of tracing, identifying, investigating and prosecuting corruption cases.
As an anti-graft agency, suspects of any economic and financial crimes are usually required to declare their assets in the course of investigation.
“The basis for this is to properly establish their true asset base and their linkage or otherwise to any act of corruption”, he said.
He added that owing to the absence of a legislation on the issue of unexplained wealth, the EFCC continued to rely on provisions of Section 7 of its Establishment Act to handle it.
|Arise News
