Illicit Financial Flow: Nigeria Tasks West Africa On Register Of Property Owners

The federal government has called on all West African countries to put in place a register of beneficial owners of real estate properties in the respective countries so as to check the use of real estate as a conduit for money laundering and terrorism financing.

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, made the call Monday in Abuja, while declaring open a two-day workshop on illicit financial flow and money laundering in the West African region.

The workshop, titled ‘National Awareness on Enhancing AML/CFT Compliance by Real Estate Dealers in Nigeria’, is organized by the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

Speaking at the occasion, Bawa, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mrs. Hadiza Zubair, noted that the crucial role the real estate sector plays in the development of West African countries has made it vulnerable to criminals and corrupt elements who are daily looking for where to hide their ill-gotten wealth.

According to Mrs. Zubair, activities in the sector are so loose that anyone with huge cash, particularly foreign currencies, can go to any major city in Nigeria, buy a property worth hundreds of millions, pay in cash, and no one asks any question or even attempting to know the real owner of the property.

She disclosed that in tackling the menace, the anti-graft agency apart from introducing various policy measures last year designed and launched an application that enables it to break the flow of illicit funds into the real estate sector by making it easy for citizens to report properties suspected to be proceeds of corruption in the country.

“I believe the EFCC model is one which countries in West Africa with similar challenges can replicate so we take this up to GIABA to say this is something that can be taken to other West African countries. Even then, the capacity of transaction in the sector remains a leading challenge which is why I challenge participants of the workshop to explore the possibility of having a register of beneficial owners of real estate properties in our respective countries.

“I believe such a measure will go a long way in unveiling the secrecy around the real estate investment in the region,” she said.

Also speaking, the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Mr. Modibbo Tukur, while describing the real estate sector as an integral part of Nigeria’s economy, especially the banking and financial industry, called for synergy from all critical stakeholders both within and outside the country.

He identified the lack of cooperation among ministries and parastatals as the major challenge in achieving set goals for protecting the sector from criminals.

In a welcome, the Director General of GIABA, Justice Kimelabalou Aba, while stating that reports show that the real estate is one of the sectors vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist financing, identified weak due diligence, the preponderant use of cash to finance real estate transactions, and general weak supervision and monitoring of industry players, as some of the factors that make the real estate sector attractive for the potential misuse by money launderers.

“Thus, as it stands today, the real estate sector, and indeed all DNFBPs constitute a weak link in the implementation of AML/CFT measures in the country. This has adverse implications not only on national AML/CFT regime, but regional efforts in combating money laundering and terrorist financing,” he said.

The DG represented by a Director in the agency, Mr. Buno Nduka, however, disclosed that the primary objective of the programme was to provide supervisors, self-regulatory bodies, and real estate practitioners with requisite knowledge on the vulnerabilities, methods, and/or channels used by criminals in the real estate sector to launder money.

Other aims of the workshop included enhancing the capacity of participants on the relevant FATF standards, raising awareness of participants on current and emerging ML/TF risks; and promoting cooperation, coordination and engagement amongst and between relevant competent authorities and real sector practitioners on how to effectively implement AML/CFT preventive measures in Nigeria.