What you should know at the end of this article:
Definition of money laundering
Effects of money laundering on the society
Effects of money laundering on the economy
History of money laundering
Some cases of money laundering in Nigeria
What Is Money Laundering?
According to wikipedia, money money laundering can be said to be an act of hiding or concealing the profits from illegal and corrupt activities into apparently "legitimate" assets.It is the generic term used to describe the act of criminals disguising original control and ownership of the gains/proceeds of criminal conduct thereby making such proceeds to appear as if they were gotten from legitimate sources.
An example of a money laundering scenario is if a politician receives a
He'll later present this to the public that he got his money through gambling. So wise of him...lol.
History Of Money Laundering
The term money laundering was first used by the British Guardian newspaper, it was used to report the Watergate Scandal. A case where a Miami company moved ill-gotten money to Mexico from the United States, and still returned it to the United States as donation to the Committee handling the President Nixon's re-election.It's true that money laundering is not the oldest crime in the human history, however, it's something close to it. Sterling Seagrave (a Historian) wrote in his book that more than 2000 years ago, the Chinese merchants laundered their money because the Chinese government was against many forms of trading.
He wrote there that the Chinese government was against many of the merchants because their wealth was built on greed, ruthless and they follow certain rules.
Some Popular Cases Of Money Laundering In Nigeria
- Patrick Akpobolokemi (N2.3billion)
The case of Patrick Akpobolokemi who was arraigned on the 4th of December 2015 by the EFCC. The former Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and five others were accused of laundering N2.3billion.
- Government Ekpemupolo
He was supposed to appear alongside Patrick Akpobolokemi.
- Sambo Dasuki (N13.5billion)
- Bukola Saraki
Sen. Bukola Saraki, the Nigerian senate president who was accused of false assets declaration. He is the most high-profile figure in Nigeria to face such charges under the present administration.
- Olisa Metuh (N400million)
Olisa Metuh, the former PDP spokesperson was accused of receiving around four hundred million Naira from Col Sambo Dasuki (former National Security Adviser).
These are just few examples of the many case of money laundering exhibited by Nigerians.
Consequences Of Money Laundering
There are many effects of money laundering both to the local communities and the Nigerian reputation in the international settings.We'll elaborate some of them below:
- People that engage in money laundering use their ill-gotten wealth to sponsor political candidates of their choice. This keeps them in control of the government when the candidate of their choice wins.
- These laundered money can also be used to sponsor terrorist groups.
- Taxes are not usually paid on these laundered money and it affects the economy of the country.
- It affects the domestic market: These people that engage in money laundering try anything possible to make their business to appear legit. The can engage in importation of goods, then sell the goods off at very low prices in other to make it the most sold in the market, thereby making people to leave the locally produced goods to patronize theirs.
- Many internet companies like PayPal limit what and how Nigerians use their services because of the way Nigerians scam there.
In Conclusion:
The above consequences are just a few out of the many consequences of money laundering. It has a serious impact on the economic, social and political well-being of the society and should be fought against.
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