On Tuesday 28th February, 2017, Donald J. Trump the President of the United States of America delivered his first address since his inauguration before a joint session of Congress. As it was only to be expected, the Republican majority rewarded him with general applause until the crescendo climaxed with a standing ovation, when he enjoined all Americans:
‘’I am asking all citizens to embrace
this renewal of The American Spirit. I am asking all members of Congress to
join me in dreaming big, and bold and daring things for our country. And I am
asking everyone watching tonight to seize this moment and--
Believe in ourselves.
Believe in your future
And believe, once more, in America.’’
His fellow Republicans rose to their
feet and it was left to Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, the
fugitive CIA consultant to publish the rest of the President’s address:
‘’The time for trivial fights is
behind us. However, we are going to make an exception of this Nigerian guy
Sunmola. Let me share with you the report which the Director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, James Comey has just passed to me.’’
Headline: US JAILS NIGERIAN 27 YEARS FOR
$1.7MILLION INTERNET SCAM
‘’AUS
court last Thursday sentenced a Nigerian, Olayinka Ilumsa Sunmola, to 27 years
in jail for the international romance scam he perpetrated from 2007 to 2014.
Lagos-born Sunmola, who was the
ringleader of a love scam organisation based in South Africa, was also ordered
to repay $1.7m.
Judge David Herndon of a US district
Court in East St. Louis heard how Sunmola and others scammed many American
women of millions of dollars while parading themselves as American soldiers
stationed overseas or engineers working on a large government contract in South
Africa.
They cultivated romantic
relationships with dozens of women using pictures of men they found online,
sometimes pictures of dead servicemen from memorial websites.
Prosecutors said Sunmola’s activities
drove some to bankruptcy and at least one to the brink of suicide.
The 33-year-old showered the women
with poetry, cards, flowers, stuffed animals and chocolates until he had
successfully entrapped them.
Once his target was entrapped,
Sunmola began to manufacture emergencies, each of which required increasingly
large amounts of money from his victims.
Sunmola used their money for lavish
parties, two Range Rovers, four properties in South Africa and a $363,000 home
in Nigeria, prosecutors said.
A federal grand jury sitting in East
St. Louis indicted Sunmola in November 2013 on charges of mail fraud, wire
fraud, conspiracy, and interstate extortion.
After two days of a jury trial,
Sunmola pleaded guilty to eight felonies, including mail fraud, wire fraud,
conspiracy, and interstate extortion.
In his ruling Judge Herndon said, ‘Conspiracy,’
‘mail and wire fraud,’ and ‘interstate extortion’ hardly sound like the kinds
of crimes that leave broken lives, wrecked women, fractured families,
devastation, desires to die, humiliation and shame so extreme.
But then, his charm turned to
bullying, name calling, extortion, unthinkable demands and threats. Thoughts of
paradise turned into thoughts of hell and, for some, thoughts of suicide. The
most devastating crime one could ever imagine without laying hands or even eyes
on another human being.”
When Sunmola completes his 27-year
prison term, he will be deported to Nigeria.’’
Donald Trump was incandescent with
rage.
‘’Above all
else, we will keep our promises to the American people that we would keep
America safe from drug traffickers and ‘’419’’ (Advance Fee Fraud) fraudsters.
I have set up a special committee under Mayor ‘’Rudi’’ (Rudolf William Louis)
Guiliani to tackle cybercrime- especially cyber security. Cyber intrusion is
the fastest-growing crime in the United States and a major threat to national
security.’’
CBS was
quick to endorse President Trump’s verdict on Nigeria by devoting prime time to
the following BREAKING NEWS:
“TheUnited States has branded Nigeria a home
of fraud as it also expressed concern over the capacity of Nigeria’s States
Security Service, SSS, to investigate money laundering.”
As
confirmation of the gravity of the concern of the President of the United
States of America, Donald J. Trump personally authorised the release of the
following report which had already been leaked by Julian Assange of WikiLeaks
and Edward Snowden the Fugitive CIA consultant:
Headline: ‘’ U.S. GOVT EXPRESSES
CONCERN OVER NIGERIA’S SSS’ ABILITY TO INVESTIGATE FRAUD.’’
As the
President Muhammadu Buhari administration continues its anti-corruption effort,
the United States government has expressed concern over the capacity of
Nigeria’s States Security Service, SSS, to investigate money laundering.
The U.S.
government also expressed worry about the SSS’ refusal to share intelligence
with sister agencies to investigate financial improprieties.
“There are
concerns about the Department of State Services’ capacity to investigate money
laundering and that it does not share case information with other agencies that
also conduct financial investigations,” the report stated.
The
assessment is contained in the March 2017 edition of the International Narcotics
Control Strategy Report (INCSR) authored by the US Department of State’s Bureau
for International Narcotic and Law Enforcement Affairs.
The report,
which highlighted major steps that countries and jurisdictions considered major
hubs for money laundering have taken to improve their anti-money laundering
(AML) regimes, also flayed Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
for its over-reliance on investigation by confession and its failure to conduct
investigations with the involvement of prosecutors.
It stated
that the EFCC’s reliance on formal mutual legal assistance with the U.S. to
collect admissible evidence in money laundering cases was a major challenge in
its effort to curb financial crimes.
It praised
the EFCC for its “aggressive” probe of high-profile corruption but said that
the conviction rate was regrettable ; “However, the EFCC’s conviction rates
continue to be low due in part to gaps in the judicial system that cause cases
to languish in the system for long periods of time without resolution,” the
report said.
While
praising Nigerian banks for their willingness to submit currency transactions
reports, it observed that the high volume of the reports and the cash-based
nature of the country’s economy made it difficult to detect suspicious
transactions.
The report,
which described Nigeria as “a major drug transhipment point and a significant centre
for financial crime”, slammed Nigeria’s financial institutions for engaging in
“currency transactions related to international narcotics trafficking that
include significant amounts of US currency.”
The INCSR
observed that criminal organisations, corrupt officials, businessmen, terrorist
group and internet fraudsters take advantage of Nigeria’s weak law, poor
enforcement, geographical location, porous borders and socioeconomic conditions
to launder proceeds of crime.
“Criminal
proceeds laundered in Nigeria derive partly from foreign drug trafficking and
criminal activity including illegal oil bunkering, bribery and embezzlement,
contraband smuggling, theft, and financial crimes. Public corruption is also a
significant source of laundered criminal proceeds.
“International
advance fee fraud, also known as “419 fraud” in reference to the fraud section
in Nigeria’s criminal code, remains a lucrative financial crime,” it states.
It observed
that Nigeria made limited progress in passing its anti-money laundering
legislation. It particularly frowned at the failure of the government to sign
the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Centre (NFIC) Bill, which would grant
autonomy to the NFIU, and the Proceeds of Crime (POC) Bill passed by the
National Assembly in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
“There has
also been little movement on a draft mutual legal assistance bill, pending in
the National Assembly since 2015,” the report says.
It,
however, praised the government for the implementation of the Treasury Single
Account (TSA), saying it had improved transparency and streamlined revenue
collection and expenditure.
“In 2016
President Buhari implemented several transparency measures, such as requiring
all government entities, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
to remit nearly all revenues to a Treasury Single Account (TSA),” the report
said.
“The recent
implementation and enforcement of the TSA as well as the Government Integrated
Financial Management Information System are intended to make government revenue
collection and expenditures more streamlined and transparent.”
Bashorun J.K.
Randle is a former
President
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG
Nigeria and Africa
Region. He is currently the Chairman, JK Randle
Professional Services.
Email: jkrandleintuk@gmail.com
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