The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has warned point-of-sale (POS) operators across Nigeria against aiding fraudsters and money launderers in perpetrating financial crimes.
Gatekeepers News reports that Olukoyede issued the warning on Wednesday when a delegation of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN), led by its National President, Oti Obioha, visited the EFCC headquarters.
The EFCC chairman, who was represented by Michael Nzekwe, his chief of staff and commander of the commission, said POS operators were increasingly being linked to financial crimes, including money laundering, terrorist financing and ransom payments.
He urged AMMBAN to strengthen its regulatory structure and establish a comprehensive database of its members to prevent criminals from exploiting POS terminals.
“We have realised that the issues of money laundering, terrorist financing, and even ransom payments are made mostly from POS machines,” Olukoyede said.
“Your association needs to do more by coming up with a structure and a comprehensive framework that will have records of all your operators so that during the course of investigation, we will be able to trace, monitor and have records that can aid us.”
Olukoyede also questioned the association’s procedures for training its members and maintaining records of their addresses and transactions.
“There are even some POS operators who are actually fraudsters; they aid, conspire, give out information and abet fraudsters,” he said.
He said the absence of proper transaction records often makes it difficult for investigators to trace the movement of illicit funds through POS terminals.
“Most times, in the course of investigation, when you find out that money was laundered through a POS operator, by the time you bring them in, they won’t even know the person who sent the money and who withdrew it, there are no records of the transactions, and no one is asking questions.
“You need to put your house in order and do more.”
The EFCC chairman urged AMMBAN leaders to ensure that members maintain financial records for every transaction and keep updated records of POS operators across the country.
He added that the commission was willing to collaborate with the association on training, public awareness and information sharing to strengthen measures against financial crimes.
Speaking on behalf of AMMBAN, Obioha acknowledged the financial implications of POS operations and called for closer collaboration with the EFCC.
“We deem it fit to present ourselves to help and work with the EFCC in preventing money laundering and other kinds of fraud,” he said.
“We are at the grassroots, and we observe that your institution is always inviting our members.
“We wish we can have a partnership that can see to the training of our members on some of the issues like financial thresholds and the risks involved in some of our operations.
“So, we are here to help you curb the rate of fraud in the business we do.”
