Ola Olukoyede, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, revealed that the EFCC had linked a religious group to the N7 billion in cash that was thought to be the proceeds of money laundering.
He revealed the information on Wednesday during a one-day discussion on “Youth, Religion, and the Fight against Corruption” at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.
Although he did not name them, the EFCC chairman also stated that the agency had found another religious organisation that has been using money laundering to support terrorists.
According to The Punch, an anti-graft agency source with knowledge of the case attested to the fact that the N7 billion was transferred into a church’s account.
According to Olukayode, a number of the nation’s religious organisations, institutions, sects, and bodies had been found to be aiding and abetting fraudsters and terrorists.
He claims that the anti-graft agency found N7 billion that had been laundered in a religious organization’s bank account while looking into a N13 billion fraud.
The chairman of the EFCC declared that they could not proceed due to a restraining court order, but he promised that the anti-graft organisation will pursue legal action to retrieve the money as the judgement was being appealed.
Olukoyede said; “We were investigating a N13bn money laundering case when we discovered that N7bn of the N13bn was linked to a religious organisation’s bank account.
“When we approached the religious organisation about it and we were carrying out our investigation, we got a restraining order stopping us from carrying out our investigation.”
He added; “No one will be spared, we’ll probe everyone who is suspected to be committing financial crimes, and these includes members of the executive, legislative, and judiciary arms of government”.
