Malami said that the huge amounts were stolen by “criminal groups and public office holders” within the past 12 years, the AGF said it was estimated that in 1998 alone, the late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, laundered over $2million.
The AGF, who made the disclosure in a keynote address presented at the ‘First Annual Conference on Financial Fraud, Cyber-Crime & Other Cross-border Crimes’, in Abuja on Tuesday, said President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed “to recover the fortunes that criminals have made illegally by returning every penny that belongs to the Nigerian public.”
He observed that the passage of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, had made it possible for criminal matters to enjoy accelerated hearing in courts.
The AGF said: “With more than 166 million inhabitants, Nigeria represents more than half of Africa’s total population. Nigeria’s major source of revenue is oil and Nigeria is ranked ninth highest exporter of crude among members of the Oil Producing Exporting Countries (OPEC) and 13th across the globe.
“In 1998, Nigeria came under severe attacks from the international community. Political and economic sanctions were imposed on the country to pressurise the military regime at the time to create an enabling environment for democratic election.”
According to him, during this period, the Nigerian financial system suffered crisis of confidence, caused in part by the inability of the financial supervisory authorities and the enforcement agencies to prevent the abuse of the financial system and enforce national and international financial laws and regulations.
Signature : APA
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