[News] EFCC boss, Abdulrasheed Bawa, recounts how a minister connived with a bank MD to launder $37m

The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, says an investigation by the commission has revealed how a female Minister connived with a bank MD to launder $37 million using the real estate sector which according to him is one of the biggest ways through which money is laundered in Nigeria.

 

Speaking during an interview with Channels TV, Bawa said about 90 to 100 percent of resources are being laundered through the sector. Not disclosing the name of the accused Minister, Bawa said

 

“One of the problems we have in the country is the real estate. 90 to 100 percent of the resources are being laundered through the real estate. Of course, they are being regulated but they are not enough in terms of how they give their returns to the Special Control Unit.

We investigated a matter in which a bank MD marketed a property to a minister and agreed to purchase it at $37.5million. The bank then sent a vehicle to her house to evacuate $20million from her house in the first instance.

The bank succeeded to put it in their system and paid the developer and then a lawyer set up a special purpose vehicle where the title documents were transferred into and of course, he is posing as the owner of the house.

Without the help of the banker, the minister couldn’t have imagined collecting $20million from anyone with opportunity from the real sector; she could not have thought of where to launder the proceeds of crime.”