National Economy

How Criminals Transfer Funds To Evade Arrest

- BY RARZACK OLAEGBE

This informatio­n is for educationa­l purposes. This is how criminals do it without being caught. However, if you do it, the law will get you. That is an assurance. The same goes for the criminals. The following is how the criminals move illegal, multibilli­on-dollar, cash-only businesses around. Criminals in this instance include drug lords, terrorist financiers and others. They transfer billions of dollars each year. Yet, they don’t get caught. How do they do it?

Research shows that money laundering is a tough business. Sometimes it is harder than making money. The targets are being monitored by law enforcemen­t like the Police, EFCC, the FBI, and FinCEN. That is why criminals across the globe employ creative methods for transferri­ng cash around.

Transferri­ng illegal cash usually follows many stages. Three will be discussed here. The criminals can make placement, layering and integratio­n. When illegal cash is generated, it is placed in the financial system. It is kept in circulatio­n. After that, the money is layered within the financial system. What does this mean? The cash is broken up. It is broken down. It is moved around. Sufficient­ly. To obscure the audit trail. This phase helps to clean the dirty money. Effectivel­y. Then the “clean” money goes back to its rightful owner. It is integrated. It is difficult. But the criminals do it regularly. It is done in a deft way to avoid financial regulation­s.

On The One Hand

Don’t go through the above route. It is illegal. It is stressful. It deform stroys the economy. And you will be caught. Repeat. You will be caught. You will be penalised. So, walk the narrow path. Those who did have embraced the online channels. They are transferri­ng money through NIP. Or Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Instant Payment platform. Between January and April 2022, the platform operator said more than N114.8 trillion have passed through the pipe.

The platform is easy. It is efficient. More customers have embraced the channel. It delivers the money when and whenever it is needed. Instantly. The NIBSS report shows a 44 per cent increase in e-payments in Nigeria. In 2021, the figure was N79.5 trillion during the same period. Data from NIBSS shows that the NIP volume did rise to 1.4 billion in January through April.

The NIP is account-number-based. It is online. It is a real-time inter-bank payment software developed in the year 2011 by Nigerians. It is the Nigerian financial industry’s preferred funds transfer platthat guarantees instant value to the beneficiar­y. All the banks use the platform for its efficiency and effectiven­ess. It works through various channels. Internet banking. Bank branch. Kiosks. Mobile apps. Unstructur­ed Supplement­ary Service Data (USSD), Point of sales. ATM. It works.

On The Other Hand

But within the software industry, Nigeria is not the leading country. It is China. China is in the top five emerging nations. It had market revenues of $66.8 billion in 2020. India had $18.5 billion. Brazil had $11.2 billion. Research shows that China will lead the software industry in the top five emerging nations with a value of $94.4 billion in 2025. India and Brazil will follow with expected values of $24.7 and $15.3 billion respective­ly. What was the software market size in Nigeria by value in 2020? NOTAP knows.

Research indicates that the top five emerging countries comprise the key emerging economies in the world. Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. These countries contribute­d $105.4 billion to the global software industry in 2020 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.1 per cent between 2007 and 2011. The top five emerging countries are expected to reach a value of $147.0 billion in 2025 with a CAGR of 6.9 per cent over the 2020-25 period.

In the short term

What are the top five software in Nigeria?

Is it payment? Banking. Loans. HR. Health. Logistics?

Do We Have Sector-Specific Software?

There is no one-size-fits-all software. Nigerian developers have “helped” the imported software to rewrite codes in order to “fit” into the local environmen­t.

Why do we keep importing software?

It is multiplex.

There are Nigerian firms that service foreign firms and those in the diaspora.

Are they criminals?

 ?? ??

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