The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) urged the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) to desist from serving as conduits for money laundering and Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), which is the illegal movement of money or capital.
The ICPC Chairman, Bolaji Owasonye was represented by the Commission’s Director of Asset Tracing, Recovery, and Management, Adedayo Kayode at the association’s 13th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Conference held in Enugu State.
He stated that the Commission is currently investigating cases of fully completed but unoccupied estates in Abuja, Lagos, and Port-Harcourt with the aim of identifying real estate developers involved in money laundering and IFFs.
The statement quoted the ICPC Chairman as saying, “The Commission conducted a System Study and Review of Mass Housing delivery in the FCT where it was discovered that members of the REDAN, who had been allocated huge plots of land for mass housing development in Nigeria through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) with particular responsibility to provide infrastructure after which allocations are made to the National Housing Fund (NHF) contributors failed in the payment of their counterpart funding and in the delivery of infrastructure to the project sites and rather, restored to offering and selling the estate plots to the highest bidder, contrary to government policy”.
The leadership of REDAN was also urged to introduce the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) principle for potential clients to “avoid serving as a conduit for money launderers and IFFs offenders”.
He said, “It is my position that self-regulation is a way out of this quagmire for the association. REDAN should consciously draw up programmers to build the capacity of its members on modern trends in construction and also hold its members to the highest level of ethical standards.
“The association should introduce and enforce high ethical standards for its members to ensure their processes are not used for money laundering. In this regard, the association may introduce KYC principles”.
