EFCC Uncovers Transfer of Public Funds From LG Account to Crypto Wallets
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disclosed how public funds were allegedly moved from a local government account to a private company before being transferred into cryptocurrency wallets.
The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed this on Monday while addressing media executives and journalists in Abuja. He said the commission’s Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department detected the suspicious transactions and intervened by freezing the account for 72 hours to determine the destination and purpose of the funds.
Olukoyede did not disclose the local government, company or state involved in the transaction.
He, however, defended the commission’s intervention, saying law enforcement agencies should not wait until public funds are completely stolen before taking steps to prevent suspicious transactions.
He said the movement of funds from the local government account to a company and subsequently into cryptocurrency wallets warranted immediate action.
The EFCC chairman also raised concerns over the growing use of cryptocurrency to conceal proceeds of alleged corruption and financial crimes.
According to him, some public officials allegedly use young people as fronts to open cryptocurrency wallets through which illicit funds are moved abroad and used to acquire properties and luxury items.
He said the commission had developed the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets, particularly those linked to virtual asset platforms registered in Nigeria.
Olukoyede further disclosed that the Federal Government had approved the establishment of a national confiscation wallet for virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies. He said the measure would strengthen accountability in the management of confiscated digital assets.
The EFCC boss also revealed that the commission had recovered virtual assets linked to the CBEX fraud and that its anti-corruption activities had contributed to the recovery of about N288.1bn in federal and state tax revenues.
He added that more than 40 EFCC personnel had been dismissed for alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the past two and a half to three years, with some already facing prosecution.