From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Senate has passed for a second reading two critical bills seeking to facilitate the swift prosecution of money launderers and terrorist financiers in Nigeria.
The bills when passed into law would also provide the needed framework for the prosecution of public servants with unexplained sources of wealth.
The bills are Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2021 and Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) (Repeal & Re-enactment) Bill, 2021.
Both bills which scaled the second reading during plenary, yesterday, were sponsored by senators Suleiman Umar and Suleiman Kwari.
Leading debate on the general principles of the first bill, Senator Umar explained that the legislation sought to repeal the extant Act and enact the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2021 to provide a more comprehensive legal and institutional framework for the prevention and prohibition of money laundering in Nigeria.
The lawmaker said the bill took into consideration the changing patterns and manifestation of money laundering as an offence, which included investment or funds transfer made or obtained fraudulently into legitimate businesses to make the illicit funds difficult to trace.
He said the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UN-ODCCP) (1999) describes money laundering as the concealment or disguising of the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement rights with respect to or ownership of property, knowing that such property is derived from an offence.
He, therefore, said the bill when enacted, would provide the framework for the prosecution of public servants with unexplained sources of wealth.
“…Many public servants who are entrusted with managing public funds for the benefit of the larger society are often accused of creating phantom companies, over-pricing of contracts, use of fronts to pay for contracts not executed or poorly executed while others have been accused of carting away huge sums of public funds and stashing it in foreign bank accounts. It is against this background that successive administrations paid attention to the prevention, prohibition and punishment of money launderersm,” said Umar.
The lawmaker gave some of the earliest legislations introduced in Nigeria to tackle the menace of money laundering to include the Money Laundering (Exchange Control (Anti Sabotage) Decree No.7 1984; the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Decree No. 48 of 1989 (now CAP 29 Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004; the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2003; and the Money Laundering Decree No.3 of 1995.
He said the defects and inadequacies of previous legislations on money laundering led to a series of legislative reforms which culminated into the enactment of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
He said the bill under consideration however seeks to repeal and enact to make provisions for a comprehensive and effective anti-money laundering legislation, taking into consideration the changing patterns and techniques now being employed by money launderers in today’s global village driven by technological advancement.
The Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2021 and Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) (Repeal & Re-enactment) Bill, 2021, after consideration, were both referred by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to the Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes for further input.
The committee chaired by Suleiman Kwari was given four weeks to report back to the upper legislative chamber.