The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disclosed how public funds were transferred from a local government account to a private company and subsequently moved into cryptocurrency wallets.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede disclosed this on Monday while addressing media executives and journalists in Abuja, saying the commission could not ignore what it considered a suspicious movement of public funds.
Olukoyede did not identify the local government, private company or state involved in the transaction.
He said the commission’s Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department detected the suspicious transactions and intervened by freezing the funds for 72 hours to determine their destination and purpose.
Olukoyede, however, expressed displeasure over criticism of the commission’s action, saying some people had called for his removal over the decision to freeze the account.
“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.
“Is that the road to build? Is that the power to generate cryptocurrency wallets for your people? Are you asking me to close my eyes and not do something like that? Then you don’t need me in this office,” he said.
The EFCC chairman said the incident highlighted the need for law enforcement agencies to move away from waiting for public funds to be stolen before acting and instead focus on preventing suspicious transactions from being completed.
“Why must we be waiting for money to be stolen? Why can’t we change the narrative? And that’s the main thing we need to bring to the office,” he said.
The disclosure comes amid public controversy earlier in August after the EFCC froze an account belonging to the Osun State Government days before the August 15 governorship election.
Olukoyede, however, did not link the transaction he cited to Osun State or any other specific state.
Public officials using crypto wallets
Olukoyede also said cybercrime had evolved beyond the traditional perception of “Yahoo Yahoo”, alleging that some young Nigerians were being used as fronts by public officials to move allegedly stolen funds through cryptocurrency wallets.
“We have gotten to a stage in Nigeria now that public officials steal money and they put it in cryptocurrency wallets,” he said.
The EFCC chairman said investigators were increasingly unable to trace conventional assets to some public officials under investigation because allegedly stolen funds were being transferred to young people who opened cryptocurrency wallets on their behalf.
“Most of the directors we are investigating now, you can’t trace tangible assets to them. They steal this money, give it to students, give it to young people. They open cryptocurrency wallets all over the world. They plunder the money there within 24 hours.
“The money moves abroad. They buy a house anywhere in the world, buy luxury items. Those are the recent trends,” he said.
EFCC traces cryptocurrency wallets
Olukoyede said the commission had developed the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets, particularly those linked to virtual asset platforms registered in Nigeria.
According to him, about 40 virtual asset platforms have been licensed as part of regulatory measures aimed at strengthening oversight of the sector.
“Now we also have the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets now, at least with those that are registered in Nigeria, and we are doing that,” he said.
Reeling out the commission’s achievements over the past three years, Olukoyede said the EFCC had recovered virtual assets linked to the CBEX fraud.
However, he identified the management of confiscated cryptocurrency as a challenge, saying the absence of a central mechanism for storing recovered virtual assets had previously raised accountability concerns.
“When you recover virtual assets, where do you put them? No accountability. That’s why we can’t continue like this,” he said.
Olukoyede disclosed that the Federal Government had approved the establishment of a national confiscation wallet where virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies would be held.
“Today, now we have a national confiscation wallet. So if I confiscate virtual assets now, it’s a national wallet that we put into those,” he said.
The EFCC chairman further warned that the growing use of cryptocurrency to move illicit funds required stronger technological capacity among financial and law enforcement institutions.
“When we are talking about cybercrime, please cooperate with us, understand the scope. Not just Yahoo. Some of the people you are calling Yahoo, see your young children; they are stealing on behalf of London, on behalf of public servants,” he said.
EFCC recovers ₦288.1bn in taxes
Olukoyede said the commission’s anti-corruption efforts had also contributed to revenue mobilisation, with federal and state tax recoveries amounting to approximately ₦288.1bn during the period under review.
He said the figure comprised about ₦173.2bn in federal tax recoveries and N114.9bn attributed to State Internal Revenue Services.
The EFCC chairman also disclosed that more than 40 commission personnel had been dismissed for alleged corruption and financial malpractice over 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.
