Finance
Financial Crimes: EFCC Records Highest Convictions in 2022
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday disclosed that the commission under acting chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa has recorded its highest number of convictions in 2022.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday disclosed that the commission under acting chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa has recorded its highest number of convictions in 2022.
The commission as of October 7, 2022 has recorded a total of 2,700 convictions, its highest since its inception. The commission disclosed this in a statement made available to the press.
The EFCC Chairman said,” Without sounding immodest, our record over the years distinguishes the EFCC as perhaps the most effective law enforcement agency in Nigeria. We have strived to up the ante since my appointment over one year ago.
“In my time in charge, we have engineered a number of reforms and restructuring whose impact is already being seen in the terms of the number of stolen assets recovery and convictions for financial crimes. “Assets running into several billions of Naira have also been recovered by the Commission”.
In 2019, the commission recorded 1,280 convictions. In 2021, the number rose to 2,220 convictions before jumping to 2,701 by October 7, 2022.
Commenting on EFCC’s performance so far, the commission’s chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa stated that the commission will continue to intensify its activities in combating crime in the country.
He said the commission has intensified its public enlightenment engagements and in a few weeks, it will launch EFCC radio to further deepen engagements across the nation.
The EFCC chairman further stated that the Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2022, which was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari on 17 May 2022, will aid its effort in combating financial crimes in the country.
The Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 seeks to strengthen the already existing law for combating money laundering and related offenses.
The Act also provides for periodic reporting on money laundering to the President which is seen as a very effective means for tracking the implementation of the provisions of the Act, Investors King understands.