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Don’t Fraudulently Finance 2023 Elections – Nigeria’s Anti-graft Chairman, Bawa Warns Bank Directors

Bawa asserted that the collaborative effort is in line with the United Nations’ categorization of the fight against corruption vis-à-vis prevention, enforcement and assets recovery.

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has asked financial institutions in the country not to engage in “fraudulent election financing, foreign exchange malpractices and money laundering.”

According to the EFCC boss speaking on Thursday during an interactive session with Managing Directors of banks in Nigeria in Lagos, it was imperative to bring the financial institutions in the country up to speed with the growing policies in the commission.

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Bawa asserted that the collaborative effort is in line with the United Nations’ categorization of the fight against corruption vis-à-vis prevention, enforcement and assets recovery.

This was contained in a statement sent by the Commission’s Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, obtained by SaharaReporters on Thursday.

According to him, “At the EFCC, we want to place more emphasis on prevention.

“We want to lay less emphasis on enforcement, which is investigation and prosecution and put our energy more on prevention and asset recovery.

“In addition, some of the issues we have identified include foreign exchange malpractices and fraudulent election financing.

 “As you all know, in 16 to 18 months, Nigeria will be preparing for another round of elections, and the government will not want what happened in the past to repeat itself.”

The nation’s anti-graft chief said it had become necessary to put bankers on their toes, particularly as the 2023 general elections approached.

Bawa also declared that the "new EFCC" under his leadership believes that the financial institutions possess an important role to play in the Commission’s efforts to purge the country of economic and financial crimes.

He added that the occasion was used to charge the bankers to comply with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on the issuance of Personal Travel Allowance, PTA and Business Travel Allowance, BTA, to their customers.

"You need to ensure full compliance with regard to knowing your customers and ensuring that you do not give opportunities for foreign exchange malpractices.”

Topics
Corruption