Chief Femi Falana, a prominent lawyer and human rights advocate, has encouraged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to punish any attorneys implicated in money laundering.
The suggestion was made by Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
He said in response to a recent comment made by Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the EFCC.
Bawa has sworn to shine a spotlight on everyone involved in financial wrongdoing, including attorneys.
NAN reports that the EFCC director gave a speech in Lagos at a one-day training on financial crime reporting that the commission organised for the media.
Bawa had during the workshop stated that it would no longer be business as usual for politicians who laundered money through their lawyers, accounts’ managers, precious stone dealers and other designated non-financial businesses and professions.
He had consequently hinted at the anti-graft agency’s plans to “go for those” aiding such financial crimes by stepping up its probe through its Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering under the new Money Laundering Act, 2022.
However, Falana, who described the comment as only an allegation, noted that such weighty allegations must be backed by credible pieces of evidence.
He said: “As a senior lawyer, I deal with evidence; if the EFCC alleges that lawyers are involved in money laundering, with profound respect, it should take a such lawyer to court.
“This is because in other parts of the world, lawyers and other professionals are called gatekeepers and the law deals with them severely; the law is the same in Nigeria.
“So, if the EFCC chairman has his evidence (and I know he has his evidence), then his duty is to charge such lawyers before the court so that the menace of money laundering can be seriously tackled.
“I am not talking of lawyers alone; the usual gatekeepers are lawyers, accountants, bankers and estate agents.
“I am not unaware that the EFCC has had cause to charge gatekeepers including lawyers to court for money laundering.
“Some are standing trial, some have been tried, and so, where there is evidence linking lawyers with money laundering, the such lawyer should be charged before the court.”
Falana, therefore, noted that legal practitioners as gatekeepers, must distance themselves from such financial crimes and live up to the tenet of the offices they occupy.
NAN reports that during the workshop, Bawa announced that the commission had secured over 2,701 convictions for money laundering as of October 7, 2022, an increase from the 2,220 convictions recorded in 2021.