Abdulrasheed Bawa, the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said that three current state governors are being investigated for attempting to launder money by paying workers’ salaries under the table.
The head of the EFCC did not disclose the identity of the three governors.
However, in an interview with Daily Trust, Bawa stated that two of them were from the north and the third was from the south.
He added that intelligence available to the agency suggested that the three governors had concluded preparations to inject the money into the system by paying their state employees’ wages under the table.
Bawa stated,“Let me tell you something; the Intel that I have yesterday and I would want you to take this thing very seriously. Already, some state governors have some of this cash stashed in various houses and the rest are now trying to pay salaries in cash in their state,”
Bawa just stated when asked if the commission will summon the governors that they were actively monitoring them.
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He stated, “I don’t know how they want to achieve that but we have to stop them from doing that. Well, we are working, they have not paid the salaries in cash yet but it is a very serious thing,” he said, noting that the act was against section 2 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act.
“The law is very clear regarding cash transactions. Anybody that is to consummate any cash transaction as an individual, if it is not through a financial institution, must not be above N5m and if it is above that it is criminal for you to engage in such transaction. And for corporate entities, it is N10m.
“Yes, I agree the salaries are not up to that but why are you all of a sudden, and all along you have been paying people salaries through their bank accounts and now you want to pay them in cash, what are you trying to do? They will come under a lot of guises, they are trying to do verification of officers, that is what we have gotten,” Bawa said.
Remember that the Central Bank of Nigeria had signaled its willingness to revamp the N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) declared on October 26 that the country’s currency would be changed to solve several concerns with detrimental consequences on Nigeria’s economy.
