Federal Government Seeks Partnership Against Money Laundering, Others

The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has expressed comcern implicit the increasing usage of existent estate, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and luxury goods arsenic conduits for wealth laundering and different illicit fiscal activities successful the country.

The AGF, astatine a one-day roundtable connected Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Framework for Combating Financial Crimes successful Nigeria, said portion the authorities had tightened laws and policies connected anti-money laundering, criminals were progressively exploiting caller channels, particularly the spot market, charities, and nonrecreational services.

Fagbemi, represented by Chief State Counsel successful the national ministry of justice, Ms Chika Nnanna, said authorities volition not relent successful warring illicit funds successful the country.

He said astatine the event, organised by Pattison Consulting, successful concern with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the British High Commission, “Criminal proceeds are laundered done existent estate, luxury goods, and adjacent charities. These sectors, if near unchecked, could go harmless havens for illicit funds. ”

He emphasised that accepted methods of warring fiscal crimes were nary longer sufficient, stressing the request for a coordinated public-private concern exemplary to curb wealth laundering, coercion financing, and proliferation financing.

The Attorney-General besides flagged information extortion concerns arsenic a cardinal situation to quality sharing, insisting that caller ineligible frameworks indispensable onslaught a equilibrium betwixt accusation speech and the extortion of citizens’ privateness rights.

Speaking successful the aforesaid vein, National Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr. Vincent Olatunji, represented by Babatunde Bamigboye, pledged the agency’s readiness to collaborate with the NFIU and different stakeholders successful safeguarding idiosyncratic data, portion enhancing quality sharing.

On his part, General Counsel of the NFIU, Felix Obiamalu, clarified that the Attorney-General’s remarks were not an indictment of the full existent property oregon NGO sector, but a telephone for stronger regulation.

Earlier, Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, successful her invited remarks, noted that Nigeria’s fiscal strategy remains nether planetary scrutiny, urging stakeholders to fortify collaboration to debar returning to the planetary Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.