THE Federal Government on Monday said that cross border flow of the global proceeds from criminal activities was estimated to be about N240 trillion (USD 1.6 trillion annually). It observed that this amount comes from "particularly corruption and economic crimes estimated to be between USD 1 to 1.6 trillion annually.'The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), made this revelation in Abuja at a workshop on stolen assets recovery and management of the proceeds of crime organised by the Federal Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with Justice for All and International Centre for Asset Recovery.In his keynote address entitled, "Recovering Stolen Assets and Management of Proceeds of Crime,' the AGF said that "half of this amount is looted from developing and transition economies. 'Statistics further revealed that USD 20-40 billion of this inflow originated in bribes to public officials from these countries,' saying that the equivalent of more than half of the continent's external debt are held in foreign bank accounts.He further noted that it was vital for the affected nations to have the political will to pursue recoveries.Against this backdrop, the justice minister said he had articulated plan for a wide range reform in the justice sector for improved institutional mandates and structures of anti-corruption institutions in the context of efficient justice delivery and accountability.Also speaking on the occasion, the coordinator of the National Economic Team and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said it took Nigerian government five years to recover stolen funds by former military head of state, General Sani Abacha.She said the recovered stolen funds from Abacha was 80 per cent utilised in the provision of social infrastructure, adding that the recovery took place under the civilian government of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.She added that the Swiss government, civil society groups in Switzerland and Nigeria insisted on monitoring the usage of the funds, to ensure that it went into provision of roads, water, health facilities and others.Meanwhile, the finance minister has called on all agencies of government to return to the national treasury any recovered fund from acts of corruption.She said apart from the Ministry of Justice, other agencies of the Federal Government were yet to return such corruption monies to the national treasury.The minister said returning of proceeds of corruption to the national treasury was the practice while she served as Finance Minister under Obasanjo, adding that since she returned, that had not been done.In her remarks, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri, said EFCC pioneered the introduction of a comprehensive non-conviction based asset forfeiture law in Nigeria.'The principal aim was to have in place, a legislation that would complement the current conviction-based regime,' she said.In addition, she added that the 'bill suffered a setback in the House of Representatives. The reasons advanced for defeating the bill were legally and morally unsupportable.'Section 44(1)b of the 1999 Constitution already recognises the possibility of a forfeiture of assets through a civil process.'All the National Assembly needs to do is to make a law that prescribes the mode of that process. It is, therefore, strongly recommended that this initiative by the AGF and DFID should result in the urgent representation of that bill to the seventh National Assembly for its consideration and passage into law.'Meanwhile, naira firmed at the official trading window on Monday, as US dollar demand eased, following several tightening measures by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week, but the local currency remained much weaker at around Friday's levels on the interbank market.The CBN sold all the $296.91 million demanded at 149.95 to the dollar against its initial offer of $400 million at the official window.Foreign exchange demand was down sharply from the $591.67 million at last Wednesday's auction, which were sold at 150 naira to the dollar.The naira remained under pressure on the interbank market, at 162.88 to the dollar by 1156 GMT, with dealers uncertain over sentiment, following a week of intense volatility for exchange rates in sub-Saharan Africa's second-largest economy.The CBN, last week raised its benchmark interest rate by 275 basis points to 12 per cent, upped the cash reserve requirement of banks to eight per cent from four per cent and reduced net open positions lenders can hold as reserves to one per cent of shareholders funds from five per cent.
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