Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has stated that bankers who collude with criminal elements to collect foreign exchange should be reported. The agency also directed that banks should not provide foreign exchange to consumers who do not intend to travel outside Nigeria.
This was revealed by the EFCC’s Commander of the Uyo Zonal Command, Nwanneka Nwokike, at a meeting with Chief Compliance Officers of banks in the zone, yesterday.
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What the EFCC is saying?
Nwokike said the anti-graft agency under the leadership of EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has vowed to clamp down on forex offenders, be they bank officials or customers.
He said, “Always report Bank officials who collude with criminal elements to collect foreign exchange. There are very strong indications that it is happening; go back and sensitise your staff, to ensure that they always do the right thing because ‘doing the right thing’ has become the new normal; therefore, proper verification of documents presented by customers for forex must be done. Again, the Commission will not entertain excuses, and will no longer look away when Banks fail to do their due diligence.”
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The Deputy Zonal Commander ACE II Hamidu S. Bawa asked the Compliance Officers to report such clients to the Commission in response to the issue of consumers who book overseas flights and then cancel after collecting foreign exchange from banks.
“When you observe such offenders, report them to the Commission and provide their BVN along, because after now, the liability will be on you and I’m sure you don’t want that to happen,” he said.
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In case you missed It
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered all commercial banks to publish the names and Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) of clients who use fraudulent and unethical methods to get foreign exchange from banks on their websites.
