•Widen law on proceeds of crime, acquired proxy property •Creates National Confiscated Wallet for virtual assets •False whistleblower risks two years jail term, N2m fine or both
ONGOING efforts by the Federal Government to strengthen the nation’s anti-corruption have received further legislative backing with the passage of a bill that seeks to protect whistleblowers, as well as widening the extant legislation on forfeiture of suspected assets and assets acquired by proxy.
The legislative framework, which passed through the mandatory Third Reading during last Thursday’s plenary, followed the adoption of the report of the House’s Committee on Financial Crime on the bill, which proposed amendments to the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, No. 92, 2022 and other matters.
The bill, with 24 clauses, in Clause two, seeks to amend Section 1(c) of the existing law with a new provision, which “makes provisions for non-conviction-based forfeiture procedure for the recovery of properties reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime or unlawful activity;” and insert a new paragraph “(h) to provide legal framework for whistleblowing, witness protection and connected matters.”
The House introduced Clause five to amend the existing Section nine, which stipulates that: “An interim order or a preservation order shall be granted by the court to preserve property reasonably suspected to have been derived from unlawful activities and represents instrumentality of unlawful...
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