Against the backdrop of money laundering, forgeries, advance fee fraud and other financial crimes, the Central Bank of Nigeria has threatened to sanction any Nigerian bank that is used to transact such fraudulent transactions.

Specifically, the CBN said it will punish such bank(s) used to defraud any individual, company or any other corporate entity, if it is established that the bank was “careless” in such transactions.

The CBN’s Deputy Governor in Charge of International Monetary Affairs, Dr. Shamssudden Usman, who is also Chairman of the Organising Committee for the Second National Seminar on Economic Crimes, disclosed this at the pre-seminar media briefing yesterday in Abuja.

According to Dr. Usman, CBN has recovered some millions of dollars (the total value of which he did not state) from two fraudulent transactions allegedly conducted through two Nigerian banks (names withheld).

He said the CBN’s attention was drawn to the transaction from the United States, and that the apex bank was able to recover the funds.

The CBN deputy governor following the preponderance of report about involvement of Nigerian citizens in cases of financial crimes the world over, two world organisations have threatened to put more sanctions on Nigerian if the worldwide reports about the country do not improve by November this year.

Already, the two bodies, Financial Action Task Force (a voluntary organisation under the International Monetary Fund, IMF) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement (FINCEN) under the United States Treasury have blacklisted Nigeria, and have warned corporate organisations in the whole world to be cautious of transacting business with Nigeria.

As at last year, Nigeria was listed amount 17 countries in the world where financial crimes were very high, he said, stressing that after being blacklisted, other countries on the list improved their respective situations leaving behind only seven countries including Nigeria on the blacklist.

The six other countries, according to Dr. Usman, have since started improving the situation in their own countries, while Nigeria’s case worsens by the day.

This, he said, informed the threat by the Financial Action Task Force and FINCEN to put further sanction on Nigeria, adding that this made it imperative for the regulators of the Nigerian economy to put together the forthcoming National Seminar on Financial Crimes, coming up on Monday.

This year’s seminar, which is the second after last year, aims at creating and sustaining awareness on the adverse implications of economic crimes on Nigeria’s reputation and economic development.

A member of the committee, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Sheikh, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted at the briefing that a bill titled: “Financial Crimes and Terrorism Commission Bill” has since last year been sent to the National

Assembly with a view to creating a body that will deal with cases of economic crimes.

Other members from the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC), and the police, among others also disclosed efforts made by their respective organisations to combat incidences of economic crimes in the country at the briefing.

Ahmed I. Shekarau and Maryam G. Hassan, Daily Trust (Abuja), July 17, 2002