Tobias Sylvester
President Muhammadu Buhari believes the threat of jail terms is not strong enough to deter perpetrators, he advocated for more than jail terms for people who loot their nation’s wealth.
While addressing world leaders at the first edition of the Paris Peace Forum in France on Sunday, November 11, 2018, Buhari said this while delivering a speech on “Illicit Financial Flows (Iffs) and Corruption: The Challenge of Global Governance’’ during the event, attended by about 70 world leaders and governments.” Read the report HERE.
According to him, a more effective punishment would be to fully recover the profits and assets generated from illicit financial flows and corruption. He said:
“Our experience in Nigeria is that financial crimes, such as corruption and fraudulent activities, generate enormous unlawful profits which often prove so lucrative that the threat of a jail term is not sufficient to deter perpetrators.
“A more powerful deterrent is to ensure that profits and assets generated from illicit financial flows and corruption are recovered and returned to countries of origin.
“This is not to under-estimate the value of strong institutions. It only indicates that asset recovery represents significant deterrence compared to the traditional focus on obtaining conviction by the law enforcement agencies of the countries of origin.”
