Politicians now hide loots in crypto wallets — Olukoyede

The Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed how corrupt politicians in the country now hide loots in crypto wallets to beat investigations.

Oukoyede made this known in his address at a public lecture in commemoration of the Africa Anti-Corruption Day, which held on Tuesday, in Ibadan, Oyo State capital. 

Represented by the Acting Zonal Director of the commission in Ibadan, Mrs Hauwa Garba Ringim, the anti-graft agency boss noted that virtual assets and investment scam, which is on the rise, “has the potential to outpace even money laundering”, adding that “virtual assets are not fundamentally criminal” until they are fraudulently used. 

According to him, “Virtual assets fraud is on the rise. Our findings showed that fraudulent politicians are already perfecting schemes and hiding their loot in cryptocurrencies to beat the investigative dragnets of anti- corruption agencies.

“Stolen funds and unexplained wealth are being warehoused in wallets and payments for services are being done through this window. Investment schemes are also being facilitated through it.”

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Olukoyede, who identified ponzi schemes as one of the most pervasive fraudulent acts, ascribed the spread of investment fraud to the negligence of the citizens. 

“The lessons derivable from the CBEX situation are very clear: the investing public do inadvertently aid fraudulent practices through lack of due diligence on schemes advertised to them.

“Another lesson is that investors hardly send suspicious transaction reports to the EFCC until they are defrauded. We must understand that no investment scam can succeed without the negligence of investors,” he said. 

Speaking on the efforts the commission in fighting fraudulent investment schemes, he said, “For us at the EFCC, virtual assets fraud and investment scam are not hard nuts to crack.

Proactive and broad- based training and intelligence are bringing fraudulent schemes to the fore. We are ahead in every material sense and there are enormous proofs of operational successes in this regard, especially the breakthrough in investigation and prosecution of the infamous CBEX scam.

“The EFCC is always at work to engage every stakeholder in its preventive and investigative activities. Virtual assets and investment fraud, like other fraudulent activities are preventable. The escape route is adequate knowledge and understanding of issues involved.”

The public lecture, titled “Understanding Virtual Asset and Investment Fraud”, had two sessions from a professor of criminology at the Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Oludayo Tade, and an Assistant Superintendent of EFCC II, Farouk Muhammed Bello, who equally advised Nigerians to shun the notion of ‘get-rich-quick syndrome’, highlighting different ways Ponzi scheme operators and fraudsters deploy to attract unsuspecting people of their hard-earned money. 

The event had in attendance academics, corps members, students, representatives of the Oyo State government, police and sister agencies, as well as other anti-graft agencies. 

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE