EDTHE Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, described the real estate as the most corrupt sector in the country. He stated this when he was featured on Sunrise Daily, a current affairs programme, on Channels Television yesterday.
The EFCC boss also said that about 90-100 percent of resources are being laundered through the sector.
Bawa said the commission investigated a female minister, who bought $37.5m property from an undisclosed bank and deposited $20m cash.
TVR Correspondent however gathered that the Chairman who has marked his 100 days in office, did not reveal the identity of the suspect or whether she is a current or former minister.
In his speech, he said, “One of the problems we have in the country is the real estate. 90 to 100 per cent of the resources are being laundered through the real estate. Of course, they are being regulated but they are not enough in terms of how they give their returns to the Special Control Unit.
“We investigated a matter in which a bank MD marketed a property to a minister and agreed to purchase it at $37.5m. The bank then sent a vehicle to her house to evacuate $20m from her house in the first instance.
“The bank succeeded to put it in their system and paid the developer and then a lawyer set up a special purpose vehicle where the title documents were transferred into and of course, he is posing as the owner of the house.
“Without the help of the banker, the minister couldn’t have imagined collecting $20m from anyone with opportunity from the real sector; she could not have thought of where to launder the proceeds of crime.”
Favour Anthonia Adeniyi.
Reporter.
ED
