The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has offered whistleblowers rewards of between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent for credible information that leads to the recovery of Nigerian assets allegedly taken abroad through corruption.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, announced the incentive while speaking at the 43rd International Symposium on Economic Crime in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by the commission’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, Olukoyede urged anyone with credible information about the location of suspected stolen Nigerian funds or properties anywhere in the world to come forward.
“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.
Olukoyede said the incentive was designed to encourage people with useful information to assist the commission in tracing and recovering assets moved out of Nigeria through illicit means.
“That is an incentive we have put in place to encourage people to come forward to give information about stolen assets,” he added.
The EFCC chairman said successful whistleblowers could receive substantial financial rewards depending on the value of assets recovered from their information.
“You never know if you give any information here, some of you may leave this place, multi-millionaire in your lifetime,” Olukoyede said, drawing applause from participants.
Olukoyede also disclosed that the EFCC had secured the forfeiture of cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the Federal Government within the first three years of his administration.
“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, a vibrant judiciary and access to credible intelligence.
The commission’s chairman also highlighted Nigeria’s non-conviction-based asset forfeiture framework, which allows authorities to pursue suspected proceeds of crime without necessarily waiting for a criminal conviction.
He said the framework is similar to systems used in countries such as Australia and Canada.
“We have something similar to what is obtainable in Australia and Canada that empowers us to apply the forfeiture to proceeds of what is suspected to be proceeds of crime,” he said.
According to Olukoyede, the mechanism has enabled the government to secure the forfeiture of assets including an aircraft, a university, estates and houses allegedly acquired with proceeds of crime.
He cited the recovery of 752 housing units linked to former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and an ongoing investigation involving former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
Olukoyede said the investigation into Malami’s assets resulted in the forfeiture of 48 out 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,” he said.
The 43rd International Symposium on Economic Crime is being held in Cambridge and brings together anti-corruption experts and practitioners from around the world.
Olukoyede delivered his presentation on the third day of the week-long symposium.
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