Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana has disclosed how he
declined a mouth-watering N405 million brief from an unnamed former
governor to help him launder funds abroad. Femi Falana Falana, whose
testimonial is contained in the current edition of ALERT, a monthly
pull-out by the EFCC, pleaded with his colleagues to be wary of briefs
from politically-exposed persons (PEPs).
Falana explained that
the governor had asked him to assist in moving a huge sum of money to an
undisclosed country and offered to pay him £1 million reward for his
service but he declined outright.
The legal luminary said: “The
governor asked me to assist him in transferring money abroad, and that I
should claim it to be proceeds from sale of his property in Nigeria.
“And
the price was extremely attractive. He was going to pay me a million
pounds then, when money was money “The governor said he had chosen me
for the shady deal, because ‘nobody will suspect you.’ “I told him,
‘Your Excellency, so it is my reputation that you want to buy with your
one million pounds?’
“Some of my colleagues thought I was stupid,
but those who accepted the offer later found themselves in trouble, as
they were arrested and humiliated.
They were only lucky not to have been charged to court.”
He
advised lawyers against being used by politically-exposed persons. He
also asked lawyers not to succumb to the lure of filthy lucre to assist
politically-exposed persons (PEPs) to commit financial crimes.
“Lawyers
have a paramount role to play in the fight against economic and
financial crimes, as they are the ones usually employed by well-heeled
members of the society to help perfect documents for illicit
transactions, and to cover up their tracks.”
Source: Nairaland
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