US embassy cable - 04ABUJA307

UNCLAS ABUJA 000307 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KCOR, PTER, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES ACT PASSED 
BY NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, SIGNED BY PRESIDENT OBASANJO 
 
 
1. (U)  Summary:  Nigeria took another step forward on the 
anti-corruption front, and hoped to gain its removal from the 
FATF list of Noncooperating Countries and Territories (NCCT), 
when President Obasanjo signed into law the Economic and 
Financial Crimes Act and a Money Laundering Act on February 
23.  President Obasanjo's team overcame last minute internal 
procedural questions to gain passage in the House of 
Representatives on February 19, and forwarded the signed 
legislation's texts to FATF February 23 for its February 24 
meeting.  End Summary. 
 
2. (U) Nigeria's House of Representatives on February 19 
passed the Economic and Financial Crimes Act (EFCA) and a 
Money Laundering Act that aim to meet FATF standards to 
remove Nigeria from the NCCT list.  The Senate had passed a 
similar bill the week before.  The National Assembly sent the 
finished bill to President Obasanjo February 23, who signed 
and forwarded it electronically to FATF, according to 
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Director 
General Emmanuel Akomaye.  FATF is due to begin meeting on 
February 24 and the GON hopes that session will remove 
Nigerian from the NCCT. 
 
3. (U) Since Akomaye met January 13 in Rome with FATF 
officials, he has been consistently confident that FATF would 
approve of the two laws.  At the Rome meeting, FATF officials 
reviewed an initial draft of the laws sent to Obasanjo for 
signature on January 5.  Akomaye said he received assurances 
from FATF officials at that time that the laws fit their 
expectations.  He said FATF would have been "more 
comfortable" with lower transaction thresholds and lower 
penalties but they still fit within acceptable parameters. 
The EFCA, as sent to Obasanjo, sets a 1 million naira 
threshold for reporting individuals' transactions and a 3 
million naira limit for corporations.  It also stipulates a 
100,000 naira penalty for false statements during an 
investigation. 
 
4. (U) Based on these FATF comments, Obasanjo earlier this 
month sent the laws back to the National Assembly for 
changes.  The House of Representatives denied his request to 
lower the thresholds and penalties, but did meet his request 
to remove a clause that limited appeals, a section Nigeria's 
Attorney General had found unconstitutional.  The clause was 
meant to have sped up cases by reducing the time-consuming 
immediate appeal of all technical and procedural issues.  The 
National Assembly also removed the Attorney General's 
authority to direct the operations of the EFCC, arguing that 
the EFCC would lose accountability to the National Assembly 
and some of its anti-corruption punch if it was micromanaged 
by the Executive. 
 
5. (U) Comment:  The Embassy has long advocated, publicly and 
privately, for a strong Economic and Financial Crimes Act. 
The money laundering-related reporting levels and penalties 
are not optimum for FATF approval, but they may be good 
enough and the legislation undoubtedly gives the EFCC tools 
to attack corruption overall.  Akomaye was particularly 
pleased with the law's legislative mandate for an EFCC 
Financial Investigation Unit (FIU).  Senator Farouk Bello, 
chair of the Senate Committee on Banking and former executive 
director of Guaranty Trust Bank, said the law would be good 
on corruption, but added that the National Assembly would be 
looking at further tightening of the country's financial laws 
and regulations governing checks and other financial 
instruments. 
ROBERTS