Corrupt politicians using crypto wallets to launder money – EFCC chair

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has raised the alarm that some corrupt Nigerian politicians are now hiding their illicit wealth in cryptocurrencies to evade scrutiny and detection by anti-graft agencies.

The EFCC boss said the agency had uncovered a growing trend where fraudulent public officials now used cryptocurrency wallets to stash stolen public funds and conduct illicit transactions.

Olukoyede made the revelation on Thursday at an event commemorating Africa Anti-Corruption Day.

The event was held simultaneously and monitored by The PUNCH in Abuja, Lagos and Ibadan, Oyo State.

Other speakers at the event lamented that Nigerians usually fell victim to crypto fraud, including the recent CBEX scam, where Nigerians lost over N1.3tn.

Olukoyede said, “Virtual asset fraud is on the rise. Our findings show that fraudulent politicians are already perfecting schemes and hiding their loot in cryptocurrencies to beat the investigative blackness of anti-corruption agencies.

“Stolen funds and unexplained wealth are being warehoused in wallets and payment for services are being done through this window,” he said.

Olukoyede warned that while the rise of virtual assets had transformed financial transactions globally, it had also created new avenues for money laundering and financial crimes.

He said, “Technology is moving at a supersonic speed around the world.

“The advent of virtual assets is a response to one of the qualities of money as a store of value like it is known in our elementary economies.”

“However, as with every progressive innovation, fraud starts to usually evolve, evolve ways of perverting their genuine purposes,” he said.

He added that the EFCC was not helpless in the face of the sophisticated schemes, noting that proactive training and intelligence sharing had enabled the commission to identify and investigate such cases.

“But for us in the EFCC, virtual asset fraud and investment scams are not hard nuts to crack.

“Proactive and broad-based training and intelligence are bringing fraudulent schemes to the fore,” he said.