EFCC targets slush funds hidden in Ghana by politicians

Nigeria’s main anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has targeted slush funds hidden away in Ghana by corrupt politicians, in efforts to block such monies from being used to fund election campaigns.

As confirmed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, the EFCC Acting Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, reportedly went to Ghana himself to ensure that the funds are not brought back to Nigeria by the unscrupulous politicians.

Magu and some delegates from the EFCC set out for Ghana on Sunday night after they got hold of intelligence information linking campaign funds movement and a list of suspects currently under the EFCC radar.

In Ghana, Mr Magu is said to have sought the help of Ghanaian agencies such as the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Ghana Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), and Ghana Police Service (GPS) in his effort to track down some of the suspected politicians. He signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with these agencies.

Between Sunday and today, the EFCC team have reportedly already received information exchange from their Ghanaian counterpart.

An unnamed source who is familiar with the situation shared some insight on the matter, saying the following:

“The EFCC chairman has taken the battle against the use of slush funds for campaign by candidates to Ghana and some ECOWAS countries. Due to cash crunch, there have been intelligence reports that some politicians and those who looted the treasury had been trying to haul cash to Nigeria for campaign.

“Some of them were suspected to be engaging some Nigerian banks in Ghana for the transfer of the illicit funds. We are determined to block such funds in Ghana and other countries. We have been tracking the movement of the slush funds from abroad.”

The source went on to say that the EFCC has been targeting safe havens across the world, collaborating with law enforcement agencies in those countries to flush out slush funds.

While in Ghana, the EFCC team also plans to identify and possibly recover properties that were illegally acquired by corrupt politicians.