Reps Commend EFCC’s War on Cyber Crime

The House of Representatives on Wednesday in Abuja commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for its successes in tackling the scourge of cybercrime plaguing the nation’s youth.

EFCC spokesperson, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement said the Commission’s Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, stated this while defending their 2020 budget of N30.921billion before the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes.

Mr. Ademorin Kuye, member of the committee, according to the statement observed that the commission had contributed immensely in redeeming the global image of the country.

He commended the record-setting convictions profile of the commission in the year, and harped on the need for life insurance cover for EFCC staff, considering the risks associated with their job.

The statement noted that some members of the committee equally applauded the role of the EFCC in exposing the processes that led to the 9.6billion dollars arbitral award to Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID), by a UK commercial court, describing it as fraudulent.

Speaking on the strides of the commission in the 2019 fiscal year, Magu disclosed that the agency recorded 882 convictions between January and October, which surpassed the 312 recorded in 2018.

He said the EFCC collaborated with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, in a joint operation, tagged: “Operation Rewired,” which was a coordinated effort to disrupt Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes.

He said the scheme was designed to intercept and hijack wire transfers from businesses and individuals which resulted in the seizure of nearly 2.4 million dollars, and the disruption and recovery of approximately 14 million dollars in fraudulent wire transfers.

Magu also noted that aside “Operation Rewired”, the Italian Police and EFCC smashed a trans-national criminal group operating in all the five continents in an extensive investigation that resulted in the arrest of 62 individuals.

According to him, the commission’s 2020 budget proposal of N30.921billion represents a 49.26 per cent increase over the N20.715billion approved for the commission in the current year.