We are shifting our focus – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday said its focus was shifting from enforcement to crime prevention.

The spokesman for the commission, Mr Wilson Uwujiaren, said this in Lagos on Thursday, during a one-day workshop for some journalists on Financial Crimes Reporting.

He said that the essence of the workshop was to enable journalists covering the commission to key into the fight against economic and financial crimes and to update them of the commission’s activities.

Uwujiaren, who represented the acting Executive Chairman, Mr Abdulkarim Chukkol, said that, in preventing financial and economic crimes, the media was a critical partner.

“We believe that the media is critical in the fight against financial crimes, that is why we are here today to share knowledge and see how the media can help us, in preventing financial crimes, especially money laundering,” he said.

The spokesman recalled a time when they visited certain parts of the country and found it difficult to get hotel rooms.

He said they were told that this was because many rooms had been taken over by internet fraudsters popularly called “Yahoo boys”, urging  journalists to help in investigating and uncovering such happenings.

‘This is an issue bordering on financial crimes and the fight is not meant for the EFCC alone, the media has to complement the commission,” he said.

The image maker advised members of the public to always fill forms while lodging in hotels, urging them to avoid falling victim to fraudsters,

Uwujiaren noted that the hotel proprietors also have it as an obligation under the Money Laundering Act to report to the commission the acitivies of guests they suspected were fraudsters.

He said members of the public must also report to EFCC any singular transaction from N5 million cash and above, as for individuals, and N10 million cash for organisations, stressing that failure to do so was criminal.

The spokesman said that the commission was expecting financial transaction reports always from designated non-financial businesses and professions, which include Casinos, car dealers, legal consultants and consulting companies.

He also listed dealers in machineries, precious stones, mechinsed farming equipment, pool betting, mortgage brokers amongst others.

Over 25 journalists drawn from the print, broadcast and online media organiations participated in the workshop.

Three papers were presented on Understanding the new money laundering laws in relation to designated non-financial business and profession, investigative journalism and fight against money laundering, and new trends in cybercrime: how not to become a victim.