The string of corruption scandals in Nigeria over the past three months has not only sullied the country’s reputation but revealed booming local money laundering business as well, as people look to launder money corruptly received, according to BusinessDay findings.
Across the country money is laundered not only through banks but also through a whole gamut of institutions and legitimate businesses and it is not clear what new measures put in place to address these new forms of money laundering.
BusinessDay also uncovered other creative ways of ‘dry-cleaning’ instead of merely laundering stolen money and that also includes through foreign currency changers and jewelers.
Today, the skyline is being transformed by housing constructions. There are new businesses opening particularly in the oil and gas sector, reflecting not only general economic growth, but also some less savory facts, influx of drug money, graft, as underlined by the huge scam uncovered recently in the Pension Scheme and outright extortion and stealing of public funds.
“What it tells us is that corruption is now free for all” says Opeyemi Agbaje, CEO, Resource and Trust Company and an experienced finance and business expert. “It is no longer the ‘normal’ behaviour of a few Nigerians. It is a sign that the state has become dysfunctional and can not protect its own money; it cannot defend the money of its defense agencies from corruption. It is also a sign that the country has been captured by not just a mafia but multiple gangs of mafias” he adds
Detailed news link: here