We‘ll Soon Go After Banks And Their Personnel Used To Perpetrate Fraud — Ibrahim Magu

The Chairman Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) Ibrahim Magu said yesterday that the agency would go after banks being used for the looting of the nation’s treasury and money laundering.

He asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop private banking in the country and pledged the determination of his team to give corruption a brutal fight.

Magu was reported by the agency’s in-house magazine, Alert, as telling Channels Television in an interview that the era was gone when treasury looters kept their money under the guise of private banking.

He said there was no more hiding place for banks to be used by corrupt public officials and fraudsters.

He said: “We are not only going after the personnel of banks, we are also going after the banks. What happens is that when a staff of the bank is involved in such activities, what the bank does is to take the person out of the system through dismissal.

“But now, we are going to go after the banks and the personnel used to perpetrate the fraud. It takes two to tango. In fact, very soon, you will see us going after the managing directors of the banks.

“We don’t care what happens because the right thing has to be done because they have given a lot of room for money laundering activities to thrive. They were used to hide all the stolen money.”

“We had a discussion with the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and I insisted that this so-called private banking should be stopped. It is illegal; it is wrong.”