Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said it will as from June 1, 2021 begin to look into the banking industry with regard to financial crimes. Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, said this is in a bid to ensure transparency in the banks and that bankers would be declaring their assets in obedience to extant laws.
He also said that the focus on bankers is aimed at achieving financial sanity and to track illicitly acquired funds.
The EFCC can do this but even recently, the agency under the leadership of Bawa, started a move to check some former public office holders reportedly involved in money laundering, till now no news.
One wonders if the EFCC will be able to carry out such role because it has investigated and interrogated many with alleged misappropriation of public funds without results. But if it can implement what they have to do, I think it will make a change because it is through the banks that illegitimate funds are got.
The truth is that every financial transaction involving several thousands, millions, billions and trillions are not carried as cash, but moved through the banks across the country.
When an individual goes to withdraw certain amounts of money, the banker should be able to scrutinise that customer using relevant regulatory identification cards and bearing in mind that such person cannot possess such money. Even in the case of a group account, they should be interviewed to find out the source of the money.
The bankers have a big role to play when it comes to huge sums which may be claimed by a suspected fraudster. The managers should be able to detect when a particular amount of money cannot belong to a person. These, I think are the kinds of cases that give them bad names.
The bankers may be innocent of allegations and may not be collaborating with fraudsters to engage in bank fraud.
I recall a situation where an individual was asked to present a regulatory identification card in a commercial bank before she could have access to money deposited in her account. The reason for this was to really ascertain from where, who and perhaps how the money was generated.
That can be done to other accounts that have larger funds deposited in them. They should be able to know their customers through proper bank documentations. They have regulations on how much an individual should withdraw at a go.
Issues of money laundering like looted funds, as we have heard and seen, are not done through cash handling but electronically. It is expected that they raise alarm when huge amounts are discovered.
Some persons have argued whether the declaration of assets by the bankers will help in reducing financial crimes. The EFCC. as an agency saddled with such responsibility, would have done their homework before coming up with such move.
There is nothing wrong with bankers declaring their assets, after all, every public servant, from time to time, is mandated to declare to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), depending on where they work.
According to Bawa, “We are going to see a very new EFCC in terms of the way we investigate, the way we prosecute, the way generally we execute our mandate. We will do our best to ensure that this country is free of economic and financial crimes.
“We understood that the tail end of every financial crime is for the criminal to have access to the funds that he or she has illegitimately gotten and we are worried about the roles of financial institutions and we have discussed, God willing, we hope that all financial institutions particularly the bankers will declare their assets as provided for by the law in accordance with the bank employees declaration of asset act,” he expressed.
There have been allegations that bankers help or aid fraudsters in committing financial frauds. This move by the EFCC is a step in the right direction as it will prove whether it is true or not at the end of investigations into the bankers’ financial activities.
It may not be only bankers that are allegedly involved in financial crimes. There are others who involve in illicit movement of cash. They should not focus on the banks alone.
They should look at other loopholes that may not be available to the public, because smart people may device other means of escaping with heavy amounts of money.
In fact, anybody who decides to involve in any form of financial crime should be dealt with if found guilty of the crime.
It is a good policy but to what extent it is going to work is worrisome. So many persons in the society today have declared their assets before now but we still hear and read about their unwholesome financial activities.
Some persons are smart so the EFCC and the financial institutions should also be smart to checkmate those who are associated with larger sums of money.
I think the EFCC is in the right direction because on a daily basis, many people get calls from unknown persons from different parts of the country. This is a true story as many have testified.
There was this experience of an unknown caller who claimed to be calling from a commercial bank whose headquarters is in the south-western part of the country. The caller mentioned my full name and of course through my phone number. He asked me to pick a code with which he will send another to me and then credit my account.
The anonymous caller said the managing director of his bank was celebrating his birthday and would credit his customers’ accounts with certain amount of money. Smart enough, I told him it was not possible. I’m not exaggerating, many people have had the same experience, unfortunately greater percentage of the people are aware of such trick.
Another experience from somebody I know closely has to do with an account portal for a programme of study, with N20,000 deposit. After a while, that account was credited with N200,000. When he was alerted, he went to the bank to notify of such. Surprisingly, after a week, the money increased to N400,000. So funny, the man ran to the bank knowing the implication of using money he never worked for.
For me, it doesn’t matter and it is not wrong for bankers to declare their assets if they don’t have any skeleton in their cupboards. It is better, so that they will be free of accusations from different quarters. There can be innocent persons in the bank.
I am not unaware that, before now, the EFCC had made several moves to track financial crime offenders but the outcome of the exercises is yet to be made public. The exercise should be fruitful.
I think with the youthfulness of the new EFCC boss and having risen through the ranks in the Commission, there is no doubt that Nigerians’ expectations will be met.

By: Eunice Choko-Kayode