EFCC orders bank employees to declare their assets, gives deadline

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has directed bank employees to declare their assets on or before June 1, 2021.

The EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, who made the disclosure on Tuesday, while speaking with newsmen after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, explained that the move which is pursuant to the Bank Employees, ETC. (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986, is part of measures to sanitise the nation’s financial system and block some of the loopholes currently being exploited by unscrupulous players in the sector to undermine Nigerian economy through money laundering and illicit financial flows.

He said “Section 1 of the Bank Employees, ETC. (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986 makes it mandatory for every employee of a Bank to make full disclosure of assets upon employment, and annually in subsequent years.”

“The law under Section 7 (1) stipulates that ‘it shall be an offence for an employee of a bank to own assets in excess of his legitimate known and provable income.’

“The penalty for violation of the Act, as spelt out in section 7(2) includes imprisonment for a term of ten years; “Any employee guilty of an offence under subsection (1) of this Section shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for ten years and shall, in addition, forfeit the excess assets or its equivalent in money to the Federal Government.”

The chairman of the anti-graft agency boss, also admonished parents to take special interest in the activities of their children while expressing worries over the increasing involvement of youths in cybercrime otherwise known as Yahoo yahoo.

He maintained that the youths must understand that there is no shortcut to enduring wealth even as he emphasized the need for parents to go give their children proper upbringing especially with the right set of values to ensure that they are not easily swayed by the allure of easy money through fraud and cybercrimes.