TheCable

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says the commission is focusing its searchlight on fraudsters who use real estate to launder money.

Speaking during a media workshop in Benin, Edo state capital, Chris Mishela, a lawyer with the EFCC, said many estates springing up in the country, especially in Abuja, are built with illicit funds.

“The sources of these funds are unlawful,” Mishela said.

“The funds are illegally gotten either from the government or from international crime and are laundered through real estate business.

“So, EFCC is actually working to look into that dimension and the new Money Laundering Act has provided an opening for the government to look into the aspect of real estate as we have seen under the Act.

“Real estate is one of the designated and non-designated professions that are also under our obligation, under the establishment to do a full disclosure.

“It is an investigation that is going on; not that we have identified any specific entity to these proceeds of crime, but we are working to unravel what those areas are.”

The aim of the workshop, according to the EFCC, is to help journalists and the public understand the new anti-money laundering act’s structure and the part they were supposed to perform.