‘We Won’t Wait For Looters To Finish Stealing’ – EFCC Announces Change Of Strategy

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has officially altered its strategy in the fight against financial crimes, moving away from tracking stolen funds after the act to stopping suspicious transactions right before the money disappears.

Naija News reports that the Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ola Olukoyede, made this known on Monday in Abuja during an interactive session with newsmen to mark his third year at the helm of the commission.

Instead of waiting for complex criminal cases to drag on for years while assets vanish, the EFCC boss revealed that the agency has established a dedicated unit known as the Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department (FRAC) to trace, flag, and freeze suspicious accounts within a 72-hour window.

Explaining the rationale behind the sudden shift in approach, Olukoyede questioned the traditional method of waiting for public coffers to be emptied before taking action.

“Why must we be waiting for money to be stolen? When we see money moving suspiciously, we move in and freeze. Pending 72 hours, we ask: where is this money going?” he queried.

He cited instances where public funds were hurriedly wired from local government accounts into corporate accounts, only to end up in cryptocurrency wallets within 24 hours.

Olukoyede lamented that corrupt public officials now employ young tech-savvy individuals to convert stolen public funds into virtual assets, making recovery difficult.

“At the press of a button, you can collapse the entire banking industry in Nigeria. Most of the data we are investigating now, you can’t trace tangible assets to them,” he stated.

To counter the growing shift toward virtual asset laundering, Olukoyede revealed that about 40 digital asset platforms have now been licensed in Nigeria, granting the EFCC the technical capacity to trace registered wallets.

Furthermore, with presidential approval, the commission collaborated with relevant security agencies to establish a centralized national confiscation wallet to store all seized cryptocurrencies.

“One of the problems we used to have was: where do you put confiscated virtual assets? Today, we have a national wallet that we put them into,” Olukoyede added.

On legal tactics, the EFCC boss disclosed that the agency is prioritizing civil asset forfeiture under Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, rather than locking itself into endless criminal litigation.

“This is faster and quicker than a criminal trial. We don’t have to wait 10, 15 years when witnesses die and assets are dissipated,” he explained.

Under the civil forfeiture process, the commission files a direct suit against the suspicious asset itself, placing the burden of proof on anyone claiming ownership to explain the genuine source of the money used to acquire it. He noted that this strategy has already yielded massive results in several high-profile cases involving former public officeholders.

Clearing the air on how seized items are handled, Olukoyede emphasized that the commission no longer manages forfeited properties directly, adhering strictly to the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2022.

Instead, a specialized Process and Proceeds Management (PCM) directorate now assigns experts, such as estate managers for real estate, stock market professionals for financial assets, and broadcast experts for media outfits, to run the properties efficiently.

He also revealed that properties undergoing rapid depreciation while stuck in court litigation are being auctioned off, with the proceeds deposited into secure escrow accounts until final judicial determination.

Regarding high-profile hotels recently forfeited in Lagos, the EFCC boss confirmed that new management teams have taken over, with commercial banks instructed to remit all operational income directly to the commission.

Olukoyede concluded by appealing to the media and civil society organizations to resume their role as active watchdogs, stressing that institutional reforms and systemic leak-blocking remain far more effective than law enforcement alone.

“The most effective system is not law enforcement. It is the policy regime, institutional reforms that close leakages,” the EFCC Chairman noted.