The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reported uncovering a religious organisation in the country that launders money for terrorists.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, spoke in Abuja on Wednesday at a dialogue on “Youth, religion, and the fight against corruption”.
Olukoyede said the unnamed religious organisation had dragged the agency to court to protect its leader from being interrogated, after laundered money was traced to the sect’s bank account.
According to him, the religious body got a court injunction restraining the commission from inviting, arresting or prosecuting its leader.
However, Olukoyede said the anti-graft agency had appealed the decision.
“As I stand before you there is a matter we are handling of over N30 billion fleeced from Nigeria, and we were able to trace N7 billion to a particular religious body,” Olukoyede said.
“As we wrote a letter to the leader, the next thing we saw was a restraining order, stopping us from inviting them and stopping us from recovering the money.
“Of course, we have appealed.
“Sometime ago, we investigated the issue of money laundering. Somewhere in this country, there is a particular religious sect that launders money for terrorists. These are the problems we are battling with.”
The EFCC Chairman used the occasion to make an appeal to religious leaders.
“To our faith leaders, my appeal is that those who lead our society from churches and mosques should develop messages that glorify industry, hard work, probity and contentment over riches, irrespective of how it was made,” he said.
“We all must stand up and be counted in the efforts to reset the mentality of our youths that the fast lane to affluence is fraud.”
