The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has disclosed that three serving state governors are being investigated for their efforts to launder stashed billions of naira through table payment of salaries to workers.
He stated that the raids on Bureau De Change operators would continue, and he urged Nigerians to support the system for the benefit of all.
This is a followup of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) October 26 announcement that the country’s currency would be redesigned to address many issues that have a negative impact on the economy.
While the new notes will be available on December 15, Nigerians will have until January 31, 2023 to deposit their old notes in banks.
However, the mad rush by top politicians, traders, investors, and other members of the public to cut corners and convert stashed funds into dollars, real estate, and other assets has caused economic tension.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated that the move was made to combat terrorism financing and public banknote hoarding. The N200, N500, and N1,000 notes will be redesigned by the central bank.
Despite several raids by EFCC operatives in Lagos, Kano, and Abuja, this paper found a dollar selling on the black market in Abuja for N882 yesterday.
According to sources, BDC operators are scooping up dollars from states as the currency’s scarcity bites harder.
In Daily Trust interview with the EFFCC chairman revealed that some governors are on the lookout for ways to launder money stashed in houses. He stated that they are currently keeping a close eye on three of them.
Bawa, who refused to reveal the identities of the three governors, did say that two of them are from the north and the third is from the south.
He stated that intelligence at the commission’s disposal revealed that the three governors had agreed on plans to inject money into the system through table payment of their state workers’ salaries.
“Let me tell you something, the Intel that I have yesterday and I would want you to take this thing very seriously. Already, some state governors that have some of this cash stashed in various houses and the rest are now trying to pay salaries in cash in their state,” he said. Asked whether the commission would summon the governors, the EFCC chair said they are closely monitoring them.
“I don’t know how they want to achieve that but we have to stop them from doing that. Well, we are working, they have not paid the salaries in cash yet but it is a very serious thing”, saying the move is against section 2 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act.
“The law is very clear regarding cash transactions. Anybody that is to consummate any cash transaction as an individual, if it is not through a financial institution must not be above N5million and if it is above that it is criminal for you to engage in such transaction. And for corporate entities it is N10million.
“Yes, I agree the salaries are not up to that but why are you all of a sudden, and all along you have been paying people salaries through their bank accounts and now you want to pay them in cash, what are you trying to do? They will come under a lot of guises, they are trying to do verification of officers, that is what we have gotten,” EFCC boss said.
The EFCC chief also confirmed the mad dash by some people to dispose of their stowed funds by purchasing real estate.
“We’re aware of it. Even if you sell your property and receive cash, in order for that cash to be valuable to you after January 31, 2023, you must take it to a bank; so what happened, are you going to the bank with those millions? That is why we are collaborating with bankers, and if you have this information, please share it with us,” he said.
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He said the raids of BDC operators would continue. This he said, is very important to protect the system against the laundering of stashed funds.
“They (BDCs) are very important in the sense that a lot of people that have this naira cash, will want to convert them to USD or other foreign currencies, that is why they are very important.
“And based on the known gullibility of these people (BDCs), they are willing to accept this cash from the owners of these monies and they are willing to depart with the foreign currencies that they have and so that is why they are very important and very critical to us in this project that we said to ourselves that we are going to do,” he said. When Bawa’s attention was drawn to the fact that the dollar was rising despite the EFCC raids, he said it is a function of demand and supply.
“The truth of the matter here is just a simple function of demand and supply, people are rushing this commodity not that they are going to use it for any meaningful business engagement but they are just rushing for it, just a store of value, that is what is happening.
“And what they say in economics is the higher the demand, the higher the price; so people are just seeing USD or other hard currencies just the way that they are seeing gold, to get it exchanged and store their value,” he said.
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