Money laundering: Foreign countries should refund stolen funds with interest – ICPC

As part of measures to address the menace of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on Thursday, canvassed for the payment of interests on stolen funds by benefiting foreign nations.

It also said the Federal Government was currently reviewing legacy transactions in oil and gas, tax investments and the use of waivers in Nigeria in order to curb IFFs.

Its Chairman, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN), who disclosed this in a statement authorized by the commission’s spokesperson, Mrs. Azuka Agugua, lamented that illegal movements of funds from African countries abroad has made the continent to be the biggest victim of IFFs.

The statement quoted Professor Owasanoye saying this at the International Conference on IFFs and asset recovery, held at the ICPC Headquarters in Abuja.

He urged foreign beneficiaries of IFFs to deduct loans to African countries from the illegal funds in their possessions and return the outstanding amount with interests to the continent.

According to him: “Africa is the biggest victim of IFFs. If you evaluate what we have lost as a continent against what African counties owe, Africa should be a net creditor to the world. They can decide to deduct the loans given to African countries from all the money taken from the continent, there will still be a substantial amount to return to Africa.

“The money should also be returned with interests as they have been in use over there. The money should be placed in an Escrow account, and a regional development bank that knows how to manage money should be in charge of such funds.”

Professor Owasanoye said there were ongoing efforts by the Federal Government to block illicit outflows of funds through the review of international transactions that enable IFFs.

A member of the Thabo Mbeki Panel on IFFs out of Africa, Ms. Souad Aden Osman, said efforts to stop IFFs were more critical now than ever due to the huge level of poverty and underdevelopment in Africa.

In his contribution, the Chairman, African Union Advisory Board Against Corruption (AU-ABC), Honourable Luis Andriamifidy, identified some of the challenges the board face in the repatriation of IFFs to include the matter of sovereignties of countries involved, a common legal framework to be adopted, and how to proceed with court processes especially on the admissibility of evidence, among others.

The Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Francis Ben Kaifala, lamented the issue of cultural differences and how assets recovery has not taken root in many African countries, unlike Nigeria and Kenya.

He revealed that his organisation had, in two years, recovered over $3 million in cash excluding cars, houses, among others, which was more than what the country had achieved in 18 years.

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