By Ken Afor
In an ongoing investigation of a N13 billion fraud case, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stated that it uncovered N7 billion of the stolen funds linked to a bank account of a religious body in Nigeria.
The recovered money, according to the Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ola Olukoyede, was laundered for terrorists.
Olukoyede added that another religious body was found to be shielding a money launderer, following the discovery that the funds laundered were domiciled in the organization’s bank account.
He made the revelation at a two-day event on youth, religion, and the fight against corruption, followed by the launch of the fraud risk assessment project for ministries, departments, and agencies.
The event, themed “Youth, Religion, and the Fight Against Corruption,” is aimed at tackling the menace of youth involvement in cybercrimes and exploring the role religion can play in reengineering the mindset of youths in the country.
It also featured the launch of the Interfaith Preaching and Teaching Manual developed by the Interfaith Anti-Corruption Advisory Committee of the Commission as a material to dissuade individuals from corruption among adherents of Islam and Christianity.
According to the EFCC boss, religious organizations, institutions, sects, and bodies are responsible for money laundering.
“A religious sect in this country had been found to be laundering money for terrorists,” he revealed.
He, however, revealed that the religious organization swiftly obtained a court order to shield its leaders from being investigated by the EFCC.
“We were able to trace some laundered money to a religious organisation, and when we approached the religious organisation about it and we were carrying out our investigation, we got a restraining order stopping us from carrying out our investigation,” he said.
Given the rising cases of corruption in the country, the EFCC boss vowed not to relent on the investigation, while it is making efforts to appeal the restraining order with the aim to recover the stolen funds.
