EFCC Arrests 17,000 Suspected Fraudsters In 22 Years

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has disclosed that it has arrested implicit 17,000 suspects for assorted fiscal crimes since its constitution 22 years ago.

EFCC spokesperson, DCE Dele Oyewale, made this known connected Thursday during a one-day sensitisation store for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and journalists held astatine the commission’s Kano Zonal Office successful Kano State.

Oyewale said that contempt the fig of arrests and convictions recorded implicit the years, fiscal crimes continued to emergence owed to existing loopholes successful the strategy that indispensable beryllium blocked to support the nation’s economy.

He revealed that the EFCC, nether the enactment of Ola Olukoyede, has adopted a preventive strategy crossed Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of authorities to show and way fiscal leakages, noting that “about 90 per cent of corruption cases successful Nigeria hap done the procurement process.”

With lone astir 5,000 unit nationwide, Oyewole emphasised that the anti-graft Commission unsocial cannot efficaciously combat fiscal crimes and, therefore, called for progressive collaboration from journalists and CSOs.

“We person a shared mandate to guarantee that what needs to beryllium done is done. The media and civilian nine indispensable beryllium deliberate and vigilant successful interrogating issues of corruption,” helium stated.

Earlier, the Acting Zonal Director of EFCC successful Kano, DCE Sa’ad Hanafi, described CSOs and journalists arsenic captious drivers of alteration and indispensable allies successful the combat against corruption, cybercrime, and cryptocurrency fraud.

Sa’ad warned that transgression is progressively evolving from accepted schemes to sophisticated, cyber-enabled fraud that destroys livelihoods and undermines nationalist assurance successful the fiscal system.

He urged participants to spot the store arsenic a level for concern and dialogue, stressing that “the combat against corruption is not a solo ngo but a corporate nationalist endeavour.”

The store featured sessions connected cryptocurrency-related crimes, investigation, prosecution, and preventive mechanisms successful tackling financial offences.