Buhari sends money laundering, criminal activities bills to Senate

By Henry Umoru & Joseph Erunke

ABUJA —PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday,  sent his first two executive bills to the Senate, seeking to prohibit money laundering and criminal activities in the country.

The bills are:”The Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2016″ and “The Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2016.”

Buhari, in a letter to the the Senate and addresed to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, said he was introducing the bills for formal consideration and enactment into law by the legislature.

In the letter read by Saraki, during plenary, Buhari informed that the first bill provides for the repeal of Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 as amended in 2012.

He explained that the bill would “make comprehensive provisions to prohibit the laundering of criminal activities, expand the scope of money laundering, and provide protection for employees of various institutions, bodies and professions who may discover money laundering”.

On the second bill, President Buhari said it “seeks to facilitate the provision and obtaining by Nigeria of international assistance in criminal matters.”

These, he stressed, include the provision and obtaining of evidence and things, and the making of arrangements for persons to give evidence or assist in criminal investigations.

He further stated that the bill seeks “the recovery, forfeiture or confiscation of property in respect of offences, the restraining of dealings in property or the freezing of assets that may be recovered, forfeited or confiscated in respect of offences.”