The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has exposed a new tactic used by some politicians to legitimize illegally obtained wealth by declaring ownership of assets before acquiring them.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede revealed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the launch of an online tool for the Code of Conduct for public officials.
Olukoyede disclosed a case where a politically exposed individual declared ownership of a mansion valued at over N3 billion on a Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) form before its construction had even started.
“We discovered that the person declared the property when it was not yet in existence,” he said, describing the practice as “anticipatory declaration of assets.”
The politician, whose identity was not disclosed, had listed a property at a different address (number 39) from its actual location (number 44) and registered it at the land registry before taking office.
The EFCC chairman highlighted that this individual, after winning an election, declared the non-existent mansion as bequeathed to them without specifying a source.
Investigations revealed that the politician had already designed the mansion, indicating premeditated plans to misappropriate funds once in office.
“He was so devilishly smart that he had started thinking about the money to steal and what to do with it before being sworn in,” Olukoyede stated.
He described the tactic as a calculated move by some leaders to obscure illicit wealth by preemptively declaring assets they intend to acquire with misappropriated funds.
The EFCC plans to enhance its investigative capacity to scrutinize CCB forms and curb such practices.
“Leaders must not be allowed to plan their looting before they even take the oath of office,” Olukoyede emphasized, urging stronger measures to ensure accountability and transparency among public officials.
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