Due to insufficient client vetting, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has expressed concern about the pervasiveness of money laundering in Nigeria’s real estate industry, pointing to estate developers as major enablers.
The EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, ordered real estate developers to do background checks on real estate investors in order to verify the authenticity of their revenue streams, according to a news statement posted on the agency’s social media accounts on Wednesday.
At a gathering in Abuja on Wednesday, Olukoyede issued the warning in a speech headlined “Tackling Illegal Property Sales, Fake Developers, and Unlicensed Agents.”
“We find that the problem of money laundering is very prevalent among real estate developers and stakeholders in the sector, based on empirical data we have collected and some of the things we have observed, statistics, and reports,” he stated.
“As a developer, the first thing that must come to your mind is that you have to do KYC,” he said, urging developers to give KYC checks first priority.
“Do it for the benefit of your business and to ensure its survival, even if the law hasn’t made it mandatory.”
“If someone steals money and uses it to buy property from you and we trace that money to you, we will recover it from you, because you can’t sit on the proceeds of crime,” he added, warning that noncompliance might have dire repercussions.
“The difference between our country and developed countries where things work is just compliance to rules,” Olukoyede said, emphasizing the significance of regulatory compliance. That is what we are missing in this situation.
He criticized certain developers’ propensity to work without knowing the rules and advised them to follow the guidelines at all times if they want their business to be successful.
Olukoyede gave strong warnings but also offered assistance to respectable companies.
“Our job is to make you succeed,” he stated. That’s what I do because when you succeed, you hire more people, which means more Nigerians will have employment to support themselves and be less likely to conduct financial crimes.
He promised developers the best support and urged them to work with the EFCC.
“The EFCC is available to you; we’re here to help. Don’t worry, we’re not trying to shut down your company,” Olukoyede stated.
