The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have partnered to identify and prosecute lawyers who assist criminals in laundering illicit funds through the real estate sector.
This collaboration was announced at a workshop they jointly organized in Abuja, aimed at educating legal practitioners on the importance of conducting due diligence on prospective clients.
EFCC Chairman Mr. Ola Olukoyede, represented by Mr. Daniel Osei, Director of the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML), highlighted the necessity of this partnership due to the substantial illicit financial flows often disguised as legitimate business transactions with the help of lawyers.
Mr. Olukoyede emphasized, “The framework of collaboration is an international requirement. No agency or body can do it alone.”
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) also participated, noting that a recent study identified the banking sector and real estate as major vulnerabilities for the country. Dr. Emmanuel Sotande, Chief Operating Officer at NFIU, expressed concern that criminals, particularly politically exposed persons, frequently use lawyers to conceal proceeds of crime by purchasing landed assets.
He referenced a 2022 national risk assessment that identified various money laundering typologies, noting that suspects often use family members’ names for crime-related transactions, exploiting real estate agents and lawyers.
He argued that lawyers owed it a duty to the country to report suspicious transactions to the relevant agencies, especially the NFIU and the NBA.
Sotande said, “Lawyers have a lot of responsibility because some of them help their clients to buy houses. Criminal-minded people invest or conceal their proceeds of crimes using lawyers to buy assets in real estate.
“What we can be thinking as lawyers is, do I need to consult NBA to advise me on a very sensitive transaction with a politically exposed person?
“For example, if a politically exposed person wants to do a transaction with your law firm, and you think this transaction is very sensitive, you can consult the NBA to guide you.
“Unfortunately, many lawyers have engagement with real estate practitioners and also provide real estate services. Because lawyers also engage in real estate, we need to have robust guidelines.
“The problem now is that we have some lawyers who deal in properties; so what kind of guidelines do we put in place?
“Real estate is a major vulnerability for the country and lawyers play very vital role in assisting in the purchase of assets by these persons,” the NFIU officer added.
In his remarks, NBA President, Mr. Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, urged lawyers to always observe the anti-money laundering guidelines and ensure that they strictly adhered to the rules of professional conduct while handling financial transactions.
He said the legal body would constitute a committee that would specialize on treating issues pertaining to compliance of lawyers with all the relevant anti-money laundering legislations.
