Report Suspicious Transactions Or Face Penalties, EFCC Warns DNFIs

The Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mohammed Umar, on Monday, warned Designated Non-Financial Institutions, (DNFIs) across the country against un-reported suspicious transactions to appropriate government agencies. 

Umar said stiff penalties will be meted out to any errant DFNIs, who are culpable.

He stated this at the EFCC Academy, Karu, Abuja, during the opening ceremony of a four-day training on “Asset Tracing and Investigation,” organised by the anti-graft agency  for its officers, drawn from its 14 zonal offices.

A statement by the anti-graft agency spokesman, Dele Oyewale, said the training, which is aimed at further equipping the officers with skills on how to trace, identify and recover proceeds of economic and financial crimes,  runs alongside  another course on Microsoft Excel, geared towards aiding investigative officers in building databases and skill acquisition on chart linking on recovered assets.

The acting EFCC boss was represented by the agency’s Acting Commandant, Itam Nnaghe Obono.

“If any of the defaulting DNFIs is penalized and used as an example, others will all wake up to complying with the requirement of the law which mandates them to report all transactions within a stipulated threshold,” Umar was quoted as saying.

DFNIs are statutorily required to file reports of suspicious transactions to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering( SCUML), domiciled in the EFCC. 

“Their non-compliance may yield prosecution of any errant institution or individual,” Oyewale said.