In a Twitter Space on Wednesday, monitored by SaharaReporters, the Deputy Commander of EFCC and Deputy Director, Legal and Prosecution, Sylvanus Tahir and Assistant Director, Legal and Prosecution, Cosmos Ugwu explained that landowners have to be cautious when leasing out their apartments as ignorance is no excuse in the law.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has warned house owners in the country against renting out or leasing their property to criminals or risk being jailed.
In a Twitter Space on Wednesday, monitored by SaharaReporters, the Deputy Commander of EFCC and Deputy Director, Legal and Prosecution, Sylvanus Tahir and Assistant Director, Legal and Prosecution, Cosmos Ugwu explained that landowners have to be cautious when leasing out their apartments as ignorance is no excuse in the law.
According to Tahir, the act of leasing one's property to a criminal whether an internet fraudster or a person into other forms of crimes falls under section 3 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Fee Fraud-related Offences Act 2006 which highlights the 'Use of Premises' unlawfully.
He noted that landlords have to do due diligence and ensure they carry out the Know Your Customer (KYC) on prospective and current tenants.
Speaking on how uneducated landlords or caretakers can avoid falling victim to the tactics of fraudsters who might want to rent their property, Tahir said the landlord/caretaker can make use of the services of professionals in property management.
He said, “Illiterate landlords or caretakers can outsource the responsibility to experts like estate surveyors, estate agents and lawyers who are professionals in property management. I know landlords design forms with questionnaires that prospective tenants are expected to fill.
“We cannot overemphasise the need to do due diligence.”
On his part, Ugwu noted that landlords and caretakers can look out for red alerts before or after giving out their property to alleged criminals.
He said tenants who have no specific job role, or company affiliation, yet live an extravagant life should be reported to the commission as there would be no excuse that the property owner/caretaker was not aware.
He said, “There are circumstances that you can say he ought to know If you have someone who is always indoors from morning till night and changes cars every time, you should ask questions, if you don't ask, the law will say you ought to know that such a person is into something that is illegal.
“That is why the law says if you knowingly permit or in circumstances where it is said that you ought to know permitting your premises to be used for any of these offences then you have committed an offence under Section 3 of the Act.
“Caretakers are also within the ambit of this law, it is not just the landlord but whoever is given care of the property to manage is also supposed to be very careful to ensure criminal activities do not take place but if he doesn't do this, he is liable to punishment under the act.
“It is expected that before you give your house out to tenants, you will ask basic questions like what do you do for a living, where do you work? If he says he's a businessman, what do you do? Take extra steps to verify if he is the staff of the organisation. If he says he is a businessman, try to find out if he is into this business truly, where is he from? Also, get his guarantor.
“When doing a background check and no one knows where he works or what he does, it should put you on the alert that something is fishy and the man, when you tell him the house is going for a certain amount, he is willing to pay so he can move in immediately, you should be cautious to say this man that is so desperate to come into this premises, is he the kind of person I want to have? Won't he use the premises for illegal purposes? Of course, everyone presents themselves as a gentleman but look beyond this, else you will have someone that will break the law on your premises.
“For those who are already tenants, landlords should be concerned about the lifestyle of the person because you might have a kidnapper in your house, people are constantly trooping into his house and you can't decipher what he's doing to warrant the number of people coming into his house. You keep seeing strange faces coming to meet with that tenant, you should be on the alert, especially as you've already let him into your premises.
“I know so many people are afraid of coming forward to report but the law is what it is, the option is either you go in for 15 years or come forward to report. The EFCC has a site where you can just download an app, the Eagle Eye, and state what is happening. You don't have to disclose your identity and the commission will take it up from there.”