The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, has threatened to start going after every bank official who assists fraudsters in carrying out their transactions.
He expressed his displeasure about such acts when he held a meeting with compliance officers of banks in Rivers state, yesterday.
Magu stressed that the so-called bankers are not just helping politicians, but have also been helping “Yahoo boys” in the country to carry out different forms of financial crimes.
He stated that online transfer platforms such as Western Union and MoneyGram are still being used to defraud unsuspecting individuals, and some fraudulent bankers assist in the process.
Magu stated, “The banks also help the politically exposed persons to steal and launder public funds. You will also agree with me that the banks give lifelines to internet fraudsters; the one we call Yahoo boys.
“They (banks) provide market for them through MoneyGram and Western Union that are readily available. So, this is the reason we say we must come here. We have to talk. Unfortunately, we have fraudsters working in the banks; working right inside the banks.
“They throw confidentiality to the wind and subject people’s accounts to a lot of intimidation and extortion. We want to put in our machinery to deal with such fraudulent activities of the bankers and some law enforcement agencies.
“There are bad eggs among us, even in the EFCC, there seems to be readily available partnership with some fraudulent elements within the bank to perpetrate certain fraudulent activities and money laundering. I think this is basically the reason we called this meeting.
“Journalists are supposed to be corruption fighters and hunters just like the compliance officers; they are also corruption fighters and we must all work together to make the fight against corruption in Nigeria work.”
The chairman further complained that money gotten from fraudulent activities is used to sponsor terrorist groups in the country, adding that courts have convicted 194 criminals this year alone.
He said, “The fight against corruption is not for us; it is for our future generation. Every Nigerian has a duty to fight corruption. God created us to fight corruption. God did not create you to cause evil. We must insist the right thing is done always.”
Reiterating his commitment towards curbing financial crimes, Magu stated, “We will go after them; we will not let anybody go.”
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