By Amos Tauna
Kaduna (Nigeria) — Nigerian government has been asked to urgently review the legislation governing the operation of the Code of Conduct Bureau with a view to arresting its slide into becoming a failing institution.
It should also strengthen the institution and appropriately improving its effectiveness in carrying out its important mandate as a frontline anticorruption institution in Nigeria.
A joint communique issued at the end of a 4-day training Conference on Tracking Noxious Funds by Dr. Gbenga Oduntan, Nick Hildyard, Simon Taylor and Lanre Suraju in Nigeria Federal Capital, Abuja noted that “The Nigerian populace should be brought up to speed with the essential terminology, concepts and principles that define the specialist areas of anticorruption law including money laundering, illicit financial flow, safe havens for stolen assets and shell/sham companies.
“Stakeholders to design and organise yearly, refresher courses, trainings and conferences to ensure comprehension of the many technical terms of law, strategy and other intricacies of tracing illegally owned properties abroad.
“Government and non-government actors to convene fora to identify and examine the phenomenon of illicit financial flows and highlight the main treaties, principles, soft laws as well as the legal, political, diplomatic and procedural steps by which corrupt assets can be traced, frozen, seized, forfeited and returned.
“State and Non-State Actors must engage the available legal mechanisms to recognize, prevent, recover and return all forms of Illicit Financial Flows from High Corruption Risk Countries. Inter-governmental framework developed around the conditions of return of stolen funds must take account of the integrity and peculiar vulnerabilities of requesting states.
“Returnable assets should include punitive fines, compensation and disgorged profits earned from settlements; other illicit outflows such as diverted tax, shifted profits, and illicit gains linked to operations of multinational corporations Diaspora communities of Africa should help victim countries map scope of looted funds and come up with information on: where assets are located; which assets are worth following; recovery mechanisms; and the professionals that can assist with the relevant processes.
“Nigerian citizens in the Diaspora should build the momentum in their host states to bring governments and law enforcement systems in conformity with their duties to account for, trace, track and confiscate Nigeria’s stolen assets within the receiving state. Several measures could be used to augment the search for illicit funds abroad including the use of online searches, physical investigations and analysis of varied sources of information in the public domain and on social media.
“A mandatory requirement for CAC documents to be made available to the entire public ought to be implemented as soon as practicable as this will aid independent searches for beneficial ownership and disclosure of financial interests.
“A network of volunteer investigators and researchers to be formed from the ranks of attendees of this conference to make connection with other research groups and Africans in the Diaspora in order to engage in further specialist anticorruption activities including periodic and frequent online illicit property and investment tracking sessions.
“Recovered funds should be put into proper custody and handled with impeccable integrity pending the determination of cases. Whistle blowers should be encouraged and protected by law; particularly in the exercise of their freedom of expression and the provision of adequate rewards through prompt payment is essential.
“Journalists are to engage in the use of more and varied effective investigative tools. Judiciary should be strong, independent and uphold all laws including the Freedom of Information Act with vigour.
“Every citizen must be a watch dog and must pressurise the government to deliver on transparency and anti-corruption law and practice. Civil society to increase its pressure on foreign governments and international financial institutions to clean up their act and respect the demands of international laws.
“Civil society to increase its pressure on European Union Governments, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland to deliver on their promises to combat the malaise of corruption by refusing their financial systems from being exploited by a Kleptomaniac political and business ruling class.
“That the attendees will facilitate the formation of a Nigerian citizens for ‘Asset Recovery Action Group’ to carry on the good work identified by this conference and this Group is to be dedicated towards independent studies, research and knowledge sharing activities on how to trace Nigerians stolen wealth and ask for their return.
“The ignoble role of unscrupulous professionals including, accountants, auditors and lawyers in collaborating and facilitating illicit transfer of funds abroad must be noted, investigated and combatted through targeted actions.
“Animal Husbandry and particularly cattle rearing is emerging as a major means of laundering vast sums of illicit capital. Its use in disguising the proceeds of corruption is capable of destabilising national and regional peace and security.
“More studies of this problem need to be carried out to determine the scale of the activities and the strategies to expose the offenders and differentiate them from the legitimate owners of cattle.
“Anti Money Laundering laws regarding the regulation of farming and animal husbandry must be updated to cover all types of farming activities whether or not they are mechanised.
“The essence is to fill the lacuna in the law which provides for the regulation of only ‘mechanised’ farming and therefore allowing the possibility of money laundering through cattle rearing.” the communique concludes.
News Editor