INTERPOL unveils strategies to trace politicians’ looted funds

The Vice-President of the International Criminal Police Organisation for Africa, Garba Umar, has said his organisation was proposing a silver notice to help trace and recover stolen funds from corrupt politicians and criminals.

Umar stated that with the initiative, politicians who stole money and criminals would have no way to hide their proceeds.

He spoke at the workshop on the fight against financial crime organised by Interpol and Japan International Cooperation Agency in Abuja on Monday.

Umar said, “We are bringing what we call silver notice. The silver notice will trace wherever the funds are, the money that was stolen by corrupt leaders, corrupt politicians, and corrupt individuals, criminals.

“For the first time in the history of the Interpol, we are now introducing the silver notices. The EFCC and the NFIU will trace where this money is, not only tracing the money, but repatriating the money through our MLAT, our natural legal, diplomatic channels, and so on. This is what we are doing, through police-to-police international cooperation.

“If you think you have stolen money and you want to go and hide it, no.”

Umar urged law enforcement agencies to intensify their efforts against financial crime, adding that law enforcement agencies that have not yet been integrated into the I-247 facility should proceed to do so.

He said, “As law enforcement agencies, it is our collective responsibility to strengthen our response against financial crime and ensure that this does not happen.

“Law enforcement agencies that have not gotten the integration of the I-247 facility, please, don’t hesitate to go to the National Central Bureau, and tell your agency, we need to link up.

“You know why? Because the criminal data of 196 countries are domiciled with the NCB. And the only way to be part of the global village at your table, in your own office, is to get connected with the I-247 facility.”

Highlighting the facility’s significance, Umar stated that it played a crucial role in tracking and apprehending the Binance executive who had fled Nigeria in under 10 minutes.

He said, “You just check on your decks. Somebody has stolen this money. This guy that escaped, what do you call Nadim? The crypto, Bitcoin guy that escaped.

“I was contacted and immediately escaped. In 10 minutes, I go to where he is, where he’s hidden. Within another 10 minutes, I get connected with all the countries there to block him.

“All you need to do is to connect you from your system, insert all the details, and one by one, you will see the movement of criminals. Information, you got it first-hand, online.”

The Director of Interpol Financial Crime Anti-Corruption Center, Isaac Ogini, said the silver notice would kick off in January 2025.

Ogini said, “Silver notice will be targeting asset recovery, tracing and recovering of assets. As nature will have it, we will be starting the pilot in January next year. And I want to specifically thank the Nigerian government. Specifically, the director, and CEO, of NFIU. “

Also speaking, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, who was represented by the Director of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department of the EFCC, Francis Usai, said the agency was restrategising its operations to effectively tackle financial crimes.

He said, “The EFCC is restrategising its operations with a focus on prevention, knowing that it is easier and cheaper to prevent corruption from happening than investigating and prosecuting corruption.”