The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has offered whistleblowers up to five per cent of recovered assets for providing actionable information on funds and properties allegedly stolen from Nigeria and hidden abroad.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, announced the incentive on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.
Olukoyede urged people with credible information about Nigerian assets suspected to have been taken or concealed overseas to approach the commission, assuring them of financial rewards if their information leads to successful recovery.
“I welcome all of you to the world of whistleblowing. If any one of you is privy to where Nigerian assets are stolen or taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you; between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent, it’s going to go back to you upon recovery,” he said.
The EFCC chairman said the incentive was designed to encourage more people to provide information that could assist the government in tracing and recovering proceeds of corruption.
Olukoyede also disclosed that the commission had recovered or secured the forfeiture of cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Nigerian government since he assumed office less than three years ago.
“Within three years of my assumption of office, we’ve been able to forfeit both cash and assets worth over half a billion dollars to the government,” he said.
He attributed the recoveries to the professionalism of EFCC investigators, credible intelligence and the effectiveness of the judiciary.
Olukoyede also explained that Nigeria’s non-conviction-based asset forfeiture framework allows the EFCC to seek the forfeiture of assets suspected to be proceeds of crime without waiting for a criminal conviction.
He said the framework was similar to approaches used in countries such as Australia and Canada.
According to him, the commission had used the mechanism to secure the forfeiture of an aircraft, a university, estates and houses allegedly linked to proceeds of crime.
He cited the recovery of 752 housing units linked to former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele, as one of the commission’s major asset recovery cases.
He also disclosed that an investigation involving former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, led to the forfeiture of 48 of 57 properties allegedly traced to him.
“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past Attorney-General of Nigeria. We discovered that within eight years of his being in office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able to forfeit about 48,” Olukoyede said.
The Cambridge symposium, which brings together anti-corruption and economic crime experts from around the world, is holding as a week-long event in the United Kingdom.
Olukoyede delivered his presentation on the third day of the symposium.
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