The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned politicians against
reckless spending and bribery as the 2019 general elections draw close.
Acting chairman of the commission, Ibrahim
Magu, who spoke at an interaction with journalists on Wednesday, said the
commission will monitor banks for suspicious transactions in the build up to
the elections.
The EFFC, he said, is “very seriously pursuing
this issue”, adding that the commission will partner with the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the rising cases of
vote-buying.
Mr Magu said investigation of election
financing, which started with the investigation of the 2015 election funding,
was aimed at “disinfecting the electoral process”.
He said excessive use of money during elections
leads to “gross financial abuse and perversion of the electoral process” and enthrone
“bad leadership which in turn creates corruption and bad governance.”
The EFCC boss said the commission will
henceforth “bring banks and other collaborators to book.
“We will monitor how monies are withdrawn from
the banks. We will start this from a month or two from the general elections,
for unusual withdrawal of cash” he said.
He said movement of large amount of cash
contravenes provisions of the Money Laundering Act.
Mr Magu revealed techniques bankers use to hide
huge withdrawals by splitting transactions into bits of N10 Million threshold.
“They will do it in one day but they will put
different dates ti make it three to four days but they actually do it in one
day” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment