How Nigerian Female Minister Laundered N18.75 Billion — Bawa

Abdulrasheed Bawa, the Chairman of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has described the real estate sector as one of the most corrupt in the country.

The EFCC chief went on to say that the industry is responsible for 90 to 100 percent of all money laundering.

On Tuesday, Bawa claimed this while appearing on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, a current affairs program.

According to him, the commission looked into a female minister who allegedly purchased property from a bank for $37.5 million (approximately N18,750,000,000) and deposited $20 million in cash.

Bawa, on the other hand, did not reveal the suspect’s identity or whether she is a current or past minister.

He said:

“One of the problems we have in the country is the real estate. Ninety 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 $37.5 million. The bank then sent a vehicle to her house to evacuate $20 million 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 $20 million from anyone with opportunity from the real sector; she could not have thought of where to launder the proceeds of crime.”