The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed that public funds were allegedly transferred from a local government account to a private company and later moved into cryptocurrency wallets.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede disclosed this on Monday while speaking to media executives and journalists in Abuja. However, he did not identify the local government, the company or the state involved.
According to Olukoyede, the commission’s Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department detected the suspicious transactions and immediately intervened by freezing the account for 72 hours to determine the source, destination and purpose of the funds.
He defended the action, saying the EFCC could not ignore suspicious movements of public money.
Olukoyede said the development demonstrated why law enforcement agencies should focus not only on recovering stolen funds but also on preventing suspicious transactions from being completed.
He also warned that cybercrime in Nigeria had evolved beyond the traditional idea of “Yahoo Yahoo,” noting that some young people were allegedly being used by public officials to conceal and transfer illicit funds through cryptocurrency wallets.
According to him, some officials under investigation had no significant tangible assets that could be traced to them because allegedly stolen funds were transferred to young people who opened cryptocurrency wallets on their behalf.
The EFCC chairman said the agency had developed the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets, particularly those connected to virtual asset platforms registered in Nigeria.
He disclosed that about 40 virtual asset platforms had been licensed as part of efforts to strengthen regulation and oversight of the sector.
Olukoyede further revealed that the EFCC had recovered virtual assets linked to the CBEX fraud. However, he said managing confiscated cryptocurrency had previously created accountability challenges.
He added that the Federal Government had approved the establishment of a national confiscation wallet where virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies would be stored.
The EFCC boss also disclosed that the commission’s anti-corruption activities had contributed significantly to revenue recovery, with about N288.1 billion recovered in federal and state taxes during the period under review.
The figure, he said, included approximately N173.2 billion in federal tax recoveries and N114.9 billion recovered through State Internal Revenue Services.
Olukoyede also revealed that more than 40 EFCC personnel had been dismissed over alleged corruption and financial misconduct within the past two and a half to three years.
He said some of the dismissed officials were already facing prosecution, while case files concerning others were being prepared for prosecution.
The disclosure comes amid controversy surrounding the EFCC’s earlier freezing of an account belonging to the Osun State Government shortly before the August 15 governorship election. However, Olukoyede did not link the cryptocurrency transaction he described to Osun State or any other specific state.If you want, I can also give you 5 different headlines for this story.
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