The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye has called on legal practitioners and members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to work in tandem with law enforcement agencies to curb money laundering and terrorism financing.
He made this call at the annual general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), held at the Velodrome of the National Stadium in Abuja.
ICPC spokesperson, Azuka Ogugua said that Prof Owasanoye stated this as part of a panel of discussion on ethics and professional conduct of lawyers, where he also commended the NBA president, Yakubu Maikyauand its leadership for the initiative shown in discussing pertinent matters.
The session focused on the new NBA rules and guidelines on Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, as well as underlining the role of the legal profession in the fight against the vices.
According to the ICPC boss, it was inevitable that discussions on ethical conduct of legal practitioners be brought to the table due to the perceived lack of cooperation between legal practitioners and the anti-corruption agencies.
While quoting Rule 74(3) of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (RPC), he stated that it was mandatory for lawyers to report suspicious activities bordering on money laundering and related offences.
In his words, “If you see something, say something”.
Prof Owasanoye implored the NBA leadership to use the internal risk assessment policy as a set of guidelines, to make its own rules in determining what is ethical and what is not, stressing that any anti-corruption or anti-laundering committee must side-step the pitfall of bureaucracy in order to avoid complicity when a law enforcement agency moves against a client.
Also at the event, the lead speaker of the discussion session, Prof Ernest Ojukwu explained that financial laws were already in place to ensure certain financial transactions were flagged and tracked.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria suggested that monitoring and evaluating these transactions would considerably reduce the risk of money laundering and terrorism financing.
He added that legal practitioners had a corporate social responsibility to report suspicious activities of their clients to law enforcement agencies, explaining that while it might be difficult, lawyers must learn to “balance the happiness of their clients, in such a way that there is minimal social conflict”.
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