By Dr George Ogunjimi, UK
The EFCC is an acronym for Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The agency was established in 2004 to combat economic and financial crimes in Nigeria. It is an inter-agency commission with a board made up of 22 members from Nigeria’s Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and regulators.
The main function is the investigation of all financial crimes including advance fee fraud, money laundering, counterfeiting, illegal fund transfers, futures market fraud, contract scam and the coordination and enforcement of all economic and financial crimes laws in Nigeria.
The EFCC investigates and prosecutes financial crimes like money laundering, advance fee fraud, bribery, embezzlement, and looting.
Recovering stolen resources: The EFCC recovers and repatriates stolen resources.
Identifying and seizing terrorist proceeds: The EFCC identifies, traces, freezes, confiscates, or seizes proceeds from terrorist activities.
Overseeing investigations: The EFCC oversees investigations into financial and economic irregularities against individuals, corporate bodies, and national communities.
Charging and prosecuting political leaders: The EFCC has charged and prosecuted political leaders and businessmen.
Acting as a debt collector: The EFCC acts as a debt collector for large private sector actors.
The Corruption Side.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria has been instrumental in charging and prosecuting senior political leaders and businessmen with political links, as well as in recovering and repatriating significant stolen resources for the Nigerian state.
Yet it is also subject to frequent political interference, which reduces its effectiveness and means that it is often seen as an arm of the incumbent government, without an independent mandate.
Senior level officials of the EFCC, especially the chairman, are not immune from political pressures and prosecution rates have been falling as a result.
These political links have become an obstacle to the credible and efficient functioning of the EFCC. In many uncountable convictions the EFCC has secured in the twenty years of its existence, only a handful members of the political class have been successfully prosecuted, through dubious plea bargain deals.
The organisation has also deepened its tentacles in the investigation of fraud in the private sector and in some high-profile cases has been acting almost like a debt collection agency.
The EFCC has the power to investigate and prosecute all economic and financial crimes, while a rival organisation known as ICPC’s mandate focuses on government/public service related corruption.