- Politicians now list properties they plan to buy with stolen funds before taking office.
- EFCC found a case where a N3 billion mansion was declared before it was built.
- CCB may introduce stricter laws to punish false declarations.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, gives warning about politicians who list assets they do not yet own in their mandatory asset declarations.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the EFCC Chairman said the move by politicians is a tactic he describes as a form of being criminally smart.
Mr. Olukoyede made this known on Tuesday while speaking at the unveiling of a virtual compliance tool focused on ethical standards for public officials.
The event was hosted in Abuja by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in collaboration with the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR).
He revealed that EFCC investigations have uncovered instances where politically exposed individuals submit asset declaration forms listing expensive properties some not yet built with the intention of acquiring them using public funds after assuming office.
“In one particular case, we found a public official who had declared ownership of a property worth over N3 billion even before construction had begun.”
“He included it in his CCB form as if it already existed. But upon closer examination, we discovered discrepancies in the addresses, and that was a red flag.”
Further checks reportedly showed that the official not only declared a property at a fictitious address but had also pre-registered the undeveloped land and architectural design of the mansion he hoped to build once in office.
According to Mr. Olukoyede, such actions indicate that some individuals enter public service with clear intentions to misuse public resources.
“This shows a premeditated plan to embezzle funds,” he said. “It’s not just corruption it’s strategic looting.”
