The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has handed over 53 recovered vehicles and $180,300 to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, RCMP, on behalf of the victims of financial crimes in Canada.
Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the anti-graft agency handed over the recovered assets to the representatives of RCMP in Abuja on Friday, September 6.
Okukoyede said the vehicles were stolen from Canada and tracked to various car stands in Nigeria. Adding that nine of the vehicles were tracked to customs port, where they were awaiting clearance.
According to him, $164,000 was recovered for a Canadian, Elena Bogomas, in a romance scam, while $16,300 was also recovered for another Canadian, Sandra Butler.
He said one of the fraudsters used his proceeds to buy an estate and was later arrested, prosecuted and jailed, while the property was sold to recover the funds.
“It’s common knowledge that financial crimes have taken a new turn all across the globe.
The people who perpetrate these crimes do it in such a way that we discover that their activities are quite borderless and barbaric.
That’s why it has become very necessary and imperative for us to collaborate with our friends across the world. People share the same objective and mandate with us.
What the EFCC is doing today is doing on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria. It is also demonstrating the fact that the President has given us the mandate to extend our hands to ensure that this particular problem is resolved and that is exactly what we are doing here today,” he said.
