Alleged money laundering: Olukoyede was referring to religious sects, not church, mosque — EFCC

Oyewale said, “Olukoyede neither mentioned a Church, Mosque nor any particular religious entity. Unfortunately, his comments have been twisted with mischievous connotations.”

By Jeffrey Agbo

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has clarified that its chairman, Ola Olukoyede, was referring to religious sects, not any church or mosque when he spoke about terrorism financing.

Spokesman of the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, made this known in a statement on Thursday.

The agency said, “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to some misleading reports, commentaries and analyses by sections of the media, particularly Arise News, regarding the disclosure by the Executive Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, about money laundering practices involving some religious sect leaders in Nigeria.

“At the commission’s public engagement on Youth, Religion and the Fight Against Corruption on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 in Abuja, the Chairman had frowned at the conduct of some religious sect leaders whom he accused of being complicit in money laundering.

“’As I’m standing before you, there is a matter we are handling, a pyramid scheme that involves over N30 billion fleeced from Nigerians.

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‘”Along the line, some people died, some victims collapsed and all of that. We were able to trace over billion to a particular religious body and I said, write a letter to the leader of that religious sect, and we did.

“‘The next thing we saw was a restraining order. We got a restraining order restraining us from recovering the money.  Meanwhile, people have died along the line. Money traced directly to your body, and that is what we are battling.  Of course, we have appealed, and this is the situation that is facing us, religious leaders,'” he had said.

The statement said Olukoyede equally disclosed that “When I was the Chief of Staff, we investigated an issue of money laundering, somewhere in this country. There is a particular religious sect that laundered money for terrorists. These are the problems we are battling with.”

Oyewale added, “Olukoyede neither mentioned a Church, Mosque nor any particular religious entity. Unfortunately, his comments have been twisted with mischievous connotations.

“The groups fingered by the EFCC chair are religious sects, not a church or a mosque.

“Those subjecting this disclosure to sinister interpretation are on to mischief and should be ignored.

“The EFCC’s boss is focused on his assignment of tackling all shades of economic and financial crimes and would not be distracted.”