The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede, has lamented the unhealthy support which fraudsters receive from the banking sector in Nigeria.
Olukoyede made this known on Saturday, in a statement signed by Head, Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, calling on compliance officers of banks across the country to desist from unauthorised disclosure of EFCC’s investigation activities and request from banks to their customers.
The EFCC chairman, who was represented by the acting Zonal Director of the Ibadan Zonal Command of the agency, Hauwa Garba Ringim during a stakeholders’ meeting with Compliance Officers of Banks in Oyo State, stressed that it was posing considerable challenges and concerns to the commission.
He urged them to always respond to letters received from the commission with certified true copies including instruments of transactions of beneficiaries or sources, as this would expedite the processes of investigation to a logical conclusion, adding that illegal dealings and trading in naira with the Point-of-Sale operators must stop.
He said, “The EFCC is aware of the fact that compliance officers give information to their clients regarding “letters of investigation activities” written to the banks from the EFCC.
“The act usually jeopardises the investigation exercise of financial crimes and delays corruption cases from being filed before the law court.
“What we notice and see around lately is that Nigerians can only withdraw a small amount of their money with the banks in Automated Teller Machine but POS operators evidently go around with huge amounts of money gotten from the banks. This is not fair to Nigerians and we must fight it head-on,” he added.
He, however, assured the compliance officers of the commission’s support at all times, as “they remain relevant stakeholders in the fight against economic and financial crimes.”
