The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC has said that it has recovered $314,000 and N373m (N486m in all) from suspects in connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI probe into the list of nearly 80 Nigerians indicted for fraud. The FBI had released a list of 80 persons – mostly Nigerians – for their alleged role in email scams in which Americans were duped of over $70m.

The acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, further stated that the collaboration between the commission and the FBI, led to the recovery of the funds. Magu said while the sum of $314,000 had been recovered, the sum of N373m had been traced to various commercial banks by the Lagos zonal office of the commission. He also disclosed that the recent joint operations coordinated by the commission had yielded 28 arrests, adding that 14 suspects had been charged and convicted.

The EFCC chair further stated that nine of the suspects are currently undergoing trial, while five are still under investigations. According to him, over 80 cases are still under investigation from the EFCC-FBI joint operations. Speaking during a media briefing in Lagos, Magu, who spoke through Mohammed Rabo, Zonal Head, EFCC, Lagos, added that, the Lagos zone of the commission, prior to the collaborative efforts with the FBI, had independently launched a sustained operation on perpetrators of various computer-related frauds.

He said: “From 2018 to date, the EFCC had launched a sustained operation on perpetrators of various computer-related frauds, which resulted in over 200 arrests, 130 convictions and recovery of a large number of exotic cars and properties suspected to have been acquired through the proceeds of crime. We had independently launched intensive investigative actions against the infamous Yahoo Yahoo boys culminating in various strategic raids and onslaught on their hideouts. Our efforts in this regard have recorded tremendous successes leading to a number of arrests, prosecutions and convictions.”

Magu also called on the media to continue to lend its voice to the fight against corruption and economic and financial crimes, saying that “no one has the monopoly of knowledge of how the fight should be fought and won.