Mr. Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has handed over €5,100 proceeds of crime to the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Juan Sell.
A statement in Abuja on Saturday by the EFCC Spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, attributed the recovery to the collaboration between the EFCC and the Spanish Police.
Oyewale quoted the EFCC boss as saying that the sum was recovered from a Nigerian romance fraudster for Heinz Burchard Einhaus Uchtmann, a Spanish victim.
Olukoyede, who handed over the deed of release on behalf of the Nigerian government, expressed appreciation to the Spanish counterpart for its support to Nigeria over the years.
Olukoyede noted that the asset recovery and handover demonstrated the cordial relationship and collaboration between both countries and their law enforcement agencies.
“I would like to thank you for all the support over the years on behalf of your country that you have been giving to Nigeria.
“And also finding Nigeria a conducive place to carry out your diplomatic work and encouraging investors from Spain to come to Nigeria and invest.
“On our part as a law enforcement agency, the event here today is a testament of the collaboration between Nigeria and Spain and also between the law enforcement agencies in Nigeria and those in Spain,” he said.
The EFCC boss noted that the borderless nature of internet crimes had made collaboration and partnership among countries and law enforcement compelling.
He expressed the anti-graft agency’s resolve to make the country unconducive for the corrupt and the fraudulent.
“It has become very imperative for us to understand that financial crimes have become a borderless crime.
“Sometimes you will discover that they operate from a different country and get their victims in another country and the proceeds of crime go to a different country.
“On our path, we are resolute to ensure that Nigeria is not made a safe haven for financial criminals and corrupt people. We do it to cleanse our system in collaboration with our partners across the world.
“We are much more ready to continue to do that. In the interest of both countries, we must do what we have to do.
“There must be mutual trust and support for us to ensure that we cleanse the global financial ecosystem from being destroyed,” EFCC boss said.
According to him, the resources criminals control across the world outstrip the wealth in the technology industry.
“That is why it has become imperative for all governments across the world to come together much more than ever before to collaborate to sanitise the global financial ecosystem and ensure that the activities of these criminals do not thrive.
“That was what informed our determination in ensuring that anybody who perpetrates whatever is called romance scam or sextortion would not get away with it,” he said.
He stated that with the investigation in this romance scam, the agency was able to make some recoveries for a Spanish citizen, Heinz Burchard Einhaus Uchtmann, who became a victim of romance scam.
“We are happy to inform you that we have been able to recover €51,00 (Five Thousand, One Hundred Euros) for him and we have evidence that the money has also been transferred to him.
“So what we are doing here today is just to formalise the transfer of the proceeds of crime and to ensure that we strengthen our collaboration and relationship and even take it to a higher level.
“I want to let you know that what we are doing here is on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, which has given us the mandate to do this work,” he said.
In his response, the Ambassador, who lauded the collaboration between the EFCC and Spanish Police, pledged the commitment of the Spanish government to strengthen and take it higher.
“Many times you work on processes and you will never see the end result of your endeavours but what has made this special is the fact that we have seen the results of the efforts of the collaboration of two countries which are friends for the benefit of the citizens.
”Indeed this is a joyful moment for all of us; those who were involved in the investigation and those who supervised it and made it happen,” he said. (NAN)
