Egmont group is set to expel Nigeria’s Financial Intelligence
Unit (NFIU) by March 2018. This is on the agenda of the Egmont
Working Group and Heads of FIU Meeting between the 2nd and 7th of
March, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Egmont group, which is a global network of 152 Financial
Intelligence Units (FIUs) had earlier suspended Nigeria in July
2017 following the consensus by the members of the group at the
24th plenary of the group in Macao, SAR.
If expelled, Nigeria will suffer a blacklist in the global
finance sector and Nigerian Banks will be unable to issue
Mastercard and Visa credit/debit cards while card transactions with
Nigerian originated cards will be blocked meaning Nigerians cannot
do foreign transactions.
This is one of the many other consequences of this looming
decision. In the first place, the decision to suspend Nigeria’s FIU
largely due to the fact that it has operated under the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission with high level of interference and
meddling by the Ibrahim Magu led anti-corruption agency. Magu by
court orders is an illegal appointee who has continued to receive
the backing of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The NFIU in this
position flagrantly violates Recommendation 29 of the FATF
standards that stipulates that the FIU must remain independent and
devoid of any form of interference.
In Macao, the Egmont group specifically pointed out that the
Magu led EFCC had continued to leak sensitive information to the
media and the agency has continued to blackmail individuals using
highly confidential financial intelligence available to it. The FIU
in its statement announcing the consensus decision to suspend NFIU
membership status said:
“The Heads of FIU made a decision, by consensus, to suspend the
membership status of the NFIU, Nigeria, following repeated failures
on the part of the FIU to address concerns regarding the protection
of confidential information, specifically related to the status of
suspicious transaction report (STR) details and information derived
from international exchanges, as well as concerns on the legal
basis and clarity of the NFIU’s independence from the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The measure will remain in
force until immediate corrective actions are implemented.”
In reaction to this decision by the Egmont group, Vice President
Osinbajo constituted an ad-hoc committee to reposition the NFIU and
restore Nigeria’s membership of the Egmont Group. This was
contained in a 31st of July memo (SH/OVP/DCOS/NFIU/) addressed to
Mr. Chukwuka Utazi, Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption
and Financial Crimes but since then no progress has been made while
his body language suggests a support for the Magu led EFCC position
echoed by Francis Usani, head of the NFIU who contradicts the
global body with his insistence that the NFIU is operationally
autonomous.
According to the EFCC Secretary, Emmanuel Aremo, the EFCC is
best equipped to protect the NFIU from being endangered by
politicians. The groups maintained a stance that supports the NFIU
autonomy within the EFCC rather than an independent body outside of
it. This position seems to be at home with the House of
Representatives which has put forward a bill that seeks to amend
the Economic and Financial Crimes (Amendment) Act and the Money
Laundering (Prohibition & Prevention) Act.
But the Senate is opposed to it, a bill seeking the
establishment of the NFI Agency has passed at the Senate which is
also at war with the Ibrahim Magu led EFCC. The Senate had
explained that its decision to embark on the decoupling option
(removing the NFIU from the EFCC) was due to the meddlesomeness of
the acting EFCC chairman in spite of the autonomy that the FIU
should be granted. The Senate’s position is backed by the Nigeria
Law Reform Commission (NLRC), which argued that NFIU should be
independent and an autonomous body separated from EFCC.
Nigeria struggled to join the Egmont group as a member after
many years in 2007, one of former President Obasanjo’s
achievements. Before then, Nigerian banks were blacklisted in
international finance and were unable to engage in correspondent
banking.
Nigeria’s administrative type FIU makes it inappropriate to be
under the control of a law enforcement agency such as the EFCC.
“Of all the 14 countries in West Africa with an FIU, Nigeria is
the only jurisdiction that currently domiciles its FIU in a law
enforcement agency, EFCC, even when it is registered as an
administrative-type FIU. This is a misnomer. Ten of the West
African countries have their FIUs domiciled in their respective
ministries of finance, while two others have theirs domiciled in
central banks, and one in ministry of justice,” Walter Duru, an
analyst versed in the subject matter said, expressing support for
the creation of an independent NFIU.
Nigeria has invested years and lots of resources into attaining
membership of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the
expulsion of Nigeria will put the country’s aspiration in jeopardy.
It would also place Nigerian transactions on extreme scrutiny and
may affect the standing of Nigeria amongst the global community.
Students may be affected as the expulsion might attract “the
withdrawal by certain countries of scholarships to students of
Nigerian origin”, Senator Utazi the sponsor of the autonomous NFIU
bill said.
According to one of our sources familiar with the internal
workings of Egmont group, the world is impatient with Nigeria and
the breach of trust by the EFCC. Our source said:
“For over 20 years Nigeria has been involved in Egmont group and
FATF process. The world is continuing to frown that EFCC has not
shown great maturity in handling of confidential data. The 7th
National assembly agreed that the NFIU should be moved to the CBN
but nothing has come out of that.”
Nigeria’s Egmont Group expulsion will ultimately be a death blow
to Buhari’s ambitions to recover Nigeria’s looted funds abroad as
the country will be unable to benefit from financial intelligence,
shared by the other 150-member-countries, including the United
States of America and the United Kingdom. The Ball is in Osinbajo’s
court.
Egmont group is set to expel Nigeria’s Financial Intelligence
Unit (NFIU) by March 2018. This is on the agenda of the Egmont
Working Group and Heads of FIU Meeting between the 2nd and 7th of
March, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Egmont group, which is a global network of 152 Financial
Intelligence Units (FIUs) had earlier suspended Nigeria in July
2017 following the consensus by the members of the group at the
24th plenary of the group in Macao, SAR.
If expelled, Nigeria will suffer a blacklist in the global
finance sector and Nigerian Banks will be unable to issue
Mastercard and Visa credit/debit cards while card transactions with
Nigerian originated cards will be blocked meaning Nigerians cannot
do foreign transactions.
This is one of the many other consequences of this looming
decision. In the first place, the decision to suspend Nigeria’s FIU
largely due to the fact that it has operated under the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission with high level of interference and
meddling by the Ibrahim Magu led anti-corruption agency. Magu by
court orders is an illegal appointee who has continued to receive
the backing of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The NFIU in this
position flagrantly violates Recommendation 29 of the FATF
standards that stipulates that the FIU must remain independent and
devoid of any form of interference.
In Macao, the Egmont group specifically pointed out that the
Magu led EFCC had continued to leak sensitive information to the
media and the agency has continued to blackmail individuals using
highly confidential financial intelligence available to it. The FIU
in its statement announcing the consensus decision to suspend NFIU
membership status said:
“The Heads of FIU made a decision, by consensus, to suspend the
membership status of the NFIU, Nigeria, following repeated failures
on the part of the FIU to address concerns regarding the protection
of confidential information, specifically related to the status of
suspicious transaction report (STR) details and information derived
from international exchanges, as well as concerns on the legal
basis and clarity of the NFIU’s independence from the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The measure will remain in
force until immediate corrective actions are implemented.”
In reaction to this decision by the Egmont group, Vice President
Osinbajo constituted an ad-hoc committee to reposition the NFIU and
restore Nigeria’s membership of the Egmont Group. This was
contained in a 31st of July memo (SH/OVP/DCOS/NFIU/) addressed to
Mr. Chukwuka Utazi, Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption
and Financial Crimes but since then no progress has been made while
his body language suggests a support for the Magu led EFCC position
echoed by Francis Usani, head of the NFIU who contradicts the
global body with his insistence that the NFIU is operationally
autonomous.
According to the EFCC Secretary, Emmanuel Aremo, the EFCC is
best equipped to protect the NFIU from being endangered by
politicians. The groups maintained a stance that supports the NFIU
autonomy within the EFCC rather than an independent body outside of
it. This position seems to be at home with the House of
Representatives which has put forward a bill that seeks to amend
the Economic and Financial Crimes (Amendment) Act and the Money
Laundering (Prohibition & Prevention) Act.
But the Senate is opposed to it, a bill seeking the
establishment of the NFI Agency has passed at the Senate which is
also at war with the Ibrahim Magu led EFCC. The Senate had
explained that its decision to embark on the decoupling option
(removing the NFIU from the EFCC) was due to the meddlesomeness of
the acting EFCC chairman in spite of the autonomy that the FIU
should be granted. The Senate’s position is backed by the Nigeria
Law Reform Commission (NLRC), which argued that NFIU should be
independent and an autonomous body separated from EFCC.
Nigeria struggled to join the Egmont group as a member after
many years in 2007, one of former President Obasanjo’s
achievements. Before then, Nigerian banks were blacklisted in
international finance and were unable to engage in correspondent
banking.
Nigeria’s administrative type FIU makes it inappropriate to be
under the control of a law enforcement agency such as the EFCC.
“Of all the 14 countries in West Africa with an FIU, Nigeria is
the only jurisdiction that currently domiciles its FIU in a law
enforcement agency, EFCC, even when it is registered as an
administrative-type FIU. This is a misnomer. Ten of the West
African countries have their FIUs domiciled in their respective
ministries of finance, while two others have theirs domiciled in
central banks, and one in ministry of justice,” Walter Duru, an
analyst versed in the subject matter said, expressing support for
the creation of an independent NFIU.
Nigeria has invested years and lots of resources into attaining
membership of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the
expulsion of Nigeria will put the country’s aspiration in jeopardy.
It would also place Nigerian transactions on extreme scrutiny and
may affect the standing of Nigeria amongst the global community.
Students may be affected as the expulsion might attract “the
withdrawal by certain countries of scholarships to students of
Nigerian origin”, Senator Utazi the sponsor of the autonomous NFIU
bill said.
According to one of our sources familiar with the internal
workings of Egmont group, the world is impatient with Nigeria and
the breach of trust by the EFCC. Our source said:
“For over 20 years Nigeria has been involved in Egmont group and
FATF process. The world is continuing to frown that EFCC has not
shown great maturity in handling of confidential data. The 7th
National assembly agreed that the NFIU should be moved to the CBN
but nothing has come out of that.”
Nigeria’s Egmont Group expulsion will ultimately be a death blow
to Buhari’s ambitions to recover Nigeria’s looted funds abroad as
the country will be unable to benefit from financial intelligence,
shared by the other 150-member-countries, including the United
States of America and the United Kingdom. The Ball is in Osinbajo’s
court.