The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disclosed how public funds were moved from a local government account to a private company before being transferred into cryptocurrency wallets.

The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed on Monday while addressing media executives and journalists in Abuja, stressing that the commission could not ignore the suspicious movement of public funds.

Olukoyede, however, did not disclose the local government, company or state involved in the transaction.

He said the commission’s Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department had detected the suspicious transactions and intervened by freezing the funds for 72 hours to establish their destination and purpose.

Olukoyede, however, expressed his displeasure over people who called for his head as a result of the action taken by his agency.

He said, “When we see money moving suspiciously, we move in and freeze it in the interim. I know some of you are calling for my head. The account was frozen for 72 hours. Okay, come and show where this money is going? Why are you moving money? We saw money being moved from the local government account to a company. Apart from that phase, we discovered that the money has gone into cryptocurrency wallets.

“Is that the road to build? Is that the power to generate cryptocurrency wallets for your people? Are you asking me to close my eyes and not do something like that? Then you don’t need me in this office.”

The EFCC boss said the development underscored the need for law enforcement agencies to shift from waiting for public funds to be stolen before taking action to preventing suspicious transactions from being completed.

“Why must we be waiting for money to be stolen? Why can’t we change the narrative? And that’s the main thing we need to bring to the office,” he said.

The disclosure comes against the backdrop of an outcry earlier in the month after the EFCC froze an account belonging to the Osun State Government, days before the August 15 governorship election.

However, Olukoyede did not link the transaction he cited to Osun State or any other particular state.

Olukoyede also said cybercrime had evolved beyond the traditional perception of “Yahoo Yahoo,” noting that some young people were being used as fronts by public officials to move allegedly stolen funds through cryptocurrency wallets.

He said, “We have gotten to a stage in Nigeria now that public officials steal money and they put it in cryptocurrency wallets.

“Most of the directors we are investigating now, you can’t trace tangible assets to them. They steal this money, give it to students, give it to young people. They open cryptocurrency wallets all over the world. They plunder the money there within 24 hours.

“The money moves abroad. They buy a house anywhere in the world, buy luxury items. Those are the recent trends.”

The EFCC boss also disclosed that the commission had developed the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets, particularly those linked to virtual asset platforms registered in Nigeria.

According to him, about 40 virtual asset platforms had been licensed, following regulatory measures introduced to strengthen oversight of the sector.

“Now we also have the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets now, at least with those that are registered in Nigeria, and we are doing that,” he said.

Reeling out the achievements of the commission in the last three years, Olukoyede said the commission had also recovered virtual assets in connection with the CBEX fraud, but identified the management of confiscated cryptocurrency as a challenge that had previously created accountability concerns.

“When you recover virtual assets, where do you put them? No accountability. That’s why we can’t continue like this,” he said.

He disclosed that the Federal Government had consequently approved the establishment of a national confiscation wallet where virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies would be kept.

“Today, now we have a national confiscation wallet. So if I confiscate virtual assets now, it’s a national wallet that we put into those,” he said.

Olukoyede further warned that the increasing use of cryptocurrency to move illicit funds required stronger technological capacity among financial and law enforcement institutions.

He said, “When we are talking about cybercrime, please cooperate with us, understand the scope. Not just Yahoo. Some of the people you are calling Yahoo, see your young children; they are stealing on behalf of London, on behalf of public servants.”

Olukoyede said the commission’s anti-corruption activities had also contributed significantly to revenue mobilisation, with federal and state tax recoveries amounting to approximately N288.1bn during the period under review.

He said the figure comprised about N173.2bn in federal tax recoveries and N114.9bn attributed to State Internal Revenue Services.

Oluyede also said more than 40 of its personnel were dismissed for alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the past two and a half to three years.

He added that some of the dismissed officials were already facing prosecution, while case files involving others were being prepared for prosecution. (The PUNCH)