The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has vowed to resign his appointment should he be asked to act against his conscience or in violation of rule of law.
An EFCC’s statement shared via the commission’s Twitter handle on Saturday stated that Mr Bawa spoke on Friday, while featuring on a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) special interview programme, ‘One-on-One’.
Addressing some concerns in an interview, Mr Bawa said, “rule of law and fear of God shall be his guiding principles.
“I will continue to do what is right,” he said, adding, “The commission under my watch will continue to abide by the rule of law. If anybody asks me to do anything contrary to my conscience or against the rule of law, I will resign my appointment.”
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Mr Bawa has also said there is no going back on bankers’ assets declaration.
He said the directive that all bankers should start declaring their assets as from June 1, 2021 still stands.
He had said that the commission was worried about the roles of financial institutions in helping criminals to have access to proceeds of their crime.
“The EFCC, come June 1, 2021, will be demanding for this asset declaration forms, filled by the bankers so that the line that we have drawn from June 1 is really complied with by bankers in particular,” Mr Bawa said.
He said that action would also help to block some of the loopholes currently being exploited by unscrupulous players in the sector to undermine the Nigerian economy through money laundering and illicit financial flows.
He noted that bankers were not expected to declare their assets to EFCC, but to the “statutory bodies”, details of which he did not give.
He added that the “laws permit the commission to investigate assets of public officers including bankers”.
He said, “There is a law called Bank Employee Declaration of Assets, Act 1986. We are not saying they should declare their assets to us. What we are saying is that they should declare it to the statutory bodies. We are going to be calling for it.
