The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disclosed how public funds were moved from a local government account to a private company before being transferred into cryptocurrency wallets.

The Economical Financial Crime Commission Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed on Monday while addressing media executives and journalists in Abuja, stressing that the commission could not ignore the suspicious movement of public funds.

Olukoyede, however, did not disclose the local government, company or state involved in the transaction.

He said the commission’s Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department had detected the suspicious transactions and intervened by freezing the funds for 72 hours to establish their destination and purpose.

Olukoyede, however, expressed his displeasure over people who called for his head as a result of the action taken by his agency.

The Economical Financial Crime Commission boss said the development underscored the need for law enforcement agencies to shift from waiting for public funds to be stolen before taking action to preventing suspicious transactions from being completed.

The disclosure comes against the backdrop of an outcry earlier in the month after the Economical Financial Crime Commission froze an account belonging to the Osun State Government, days before the August 15 governorship election.

However, Olukoyede did not link the transaction he cited to Osun State or any other particular state.

Olukoyede also said cybercrime had evolved beyond the traditional perception of “Yahoo Yahoo,” noting that some young people were being used as fronts by public officials to move allegedly stolen funds through cryptocurrency wallets.

He said it has now  gotten to a stage in Nigeria now that public officials steal money and they put it in cryptocurrency wallets.

The Economical Financial Crime Commission boss also disclosed that the commission had developed the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets, particularly those linked to virtual asset platforms registered in Nigeria.

According to him, about 40 virtual asset platforms had been licensed, following regulatory measures introduced to strengthen oversight of the sector.

Reeling out the achievements of the commission in the last three years, Olukoyede said the commission had also recovered virtual assets in connection with the CBEX fraud, but identified the management of confiscated cryptocurrency as a challenge that had previously created accountability concerns.

He disclosed that the Federal Government had consequently approved the establishment of a national confiscation wallet where virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies would be kept.

Olukoyede further warned that the increasing use of cryptocurrency to move illicit funds required stronger technological capacity among financial and law enforcement institutions.

Olukoyede said the commission’s anti-corruption activities had also contributed significantly to revenue mobilization, with federal and state tax recoveries amounting to approximately 288.1billion naira during the period under review.

He said the figure comprised about 173.2billion naira in federal tax recoveries and 114.9billion naira attributed to State Internal Revenue Services.

Oluyede also said more than 40 of its personnel were dismissed for alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the past two and a half to three years.

He added that some of the dismissed officials were already facing prosecution, while case files involving others were being prepared for prosecution.