The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has raised the alarm over the movement of public funds from a local government account to a private company and subsequently into cryptocurrency wallets.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed this on Monday while addressing media executives and journalists in Abuja, saying the commission intervened after detecting the suspicious movement of the funds.
Olukoyede said the commission’s Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department detected the transactions and froze the funds for 72 hours to establish their destination and purpose.
He did not disclose the local government, company or state involved. However, he said investigators discovered that funds moved from the local government account to a company had subsequently entered cryptocurrency wallets.
Olukoyede defended the action, saying law enforcement agencies should focus on preventing suspicious transactions rather than waiting for public funds to be stolen.
“When we see money moving suspiciously, we move in and freeze it in the interim. I know some of you are calling for my head. The account was frozen for 72 hours. Okay, come and show where this money is going? Why are you moving money? We saw money being moved from the local government account to a company. Apart from that phase, we discovered that the money has gone into cryptocurrency wallets,” he said.
He added, “Why must we be waiting for money to be stolen? Why can’t we change the narrative?”
The disclosure comes against the backdrop of an earlier outcry over the EFCC’s freezing of an account belonging to the Osun State Government shortly before the August 15 governorship election. Olukoyede, however, did not link the transaction he cited to Osun State or any other particular state.
The EFCC chairman also warned that cybercrime had evolved beyond the traditional perception of “Yahoo Yahoo”, alleging that some public officials now use young people as fronts to move allegedly stolen funds through cryptocurrency wallets.
According to him, some officials under investigation allegedly transfer illicit funds to students and young people, who open cryptocurrency wallets through which the money is moved abroad and used to acquire properties and luxury items.
Olukoyede said the EFCC had developed the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets, particularly those linked to virtual asset platforms registered in Nigeria. He disclosed that about 40 virtual asset platforms had been licensed following regulatory measures introduced to strengthen oversight of the sector.
He further disclosed that the commission had recovered virtual assets linked to the CBEX fraud but said managing confiscated cryptocurrency had previously posed accountability challenges.
According to him, the Federal Government had consequently approved the establishment of a national confiscation wallet where virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies would be kept.
The EFCC boss also called for stronger technological capacity among financial and law enforcement institutions to tackle the increasing use of cryptocurrency in moving illicit funds.
He said the commission’s anti-corruption activities had also contributed to revenue mobilisation, with federal and state tax recoveries amounting to approximately N288.1 billion during the period under review.
The figure comprised about N173.2 billion in federal tax recoveries and N114.9 billion attributed to State Internal Revenue Services.
Olukoyede added that more than 40 EFCC personnel had been dismissed over alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the past two and a half to three years. He said some of the dismissed officials were already facing prosecution, while case files involving others were being prepared for prosecution.
