How Property Brands Are Becoming Vehicles for Money Laundering – EFCC, ICPC, Others Reveal
By Azeez Disu
Top officials from Nigeria’s leading anti-corruption agencies have issued a stark warning regarding the rising use of property brands and the real estate sector as primary conduits for money laundering.
Speaking at a high-level stakeholder engagement forum hosted by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in collaboration with the British Standards Institution (BSI), experts revealed how illicit funds are being “cleaned” through property acquisitions in Lagos and Abuja.
The ‘Port’ for Dirty Money
Dr Eze Chibuzor Johnson, Deputy Commander of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), described the real estate sector as a strategic “port” for criminals to offload illicit wealth.
“The real estate sector continues to increase [as a risk] year on year. Money launderers use the real estate sector as a port to launder money,” Dr Johnson explained. He detailed the mechanics of the crime, noting that “once they dump the money there, they buy as many properties as possible. Then they claim the money by selling the property for valuable consideration… when someone else pays for that property, that money becomes ‘clean’ and they can now use it”.
He further characterised money laundering as the “oxygen that sustains illicit economies,” adding that “it is that crime that fuels other crimes”.
Abuja vs. Lagos: A Tale of Two Markets
Providing a deeper sectoral analysis, Dr Bola Shotunde, COO of the Law Enforcement Support & Coordination Sector at the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), revealed that real estate is currently rated as “one of the highest predicate crimes in the country”.
Dr Shotunde highlighted the disparity between Nigeria’s two major property hubs. “Abuja is a speculative market because there’s public sector [corruption], but Lagos is a matured market.The real estate business in Lagos is almost at benchmark with that of South Africa,” she observed.
However, she expressed frustration over legislative delays in regulating the sector. “We worked with the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) and had a draft bill. The bill went to the National Assembly and got to the third reading, and then it’s still sleeping on the President’s desk. People in that space are very powerful and they suppressed it because they don’t want a legal framework to check their business activity,” she stated.
The Identity Crisis and International Scams
Dr Johnson Oluata, 1st Vice President of Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN), argued that the root of the problem lies in the lack of a unified identity system. “If we are able to solve the problem of identity in Nigeria, the issue of fraud will be controlled, mitigated, and detected with professional accuracy,” he said.
He called for a “robust database that will take care of every individual and every organisation in terms of identity and property, whether it is in real estate or in the bank”. Dr Oluata also cautioned the public against international property schemes, citing “The First Group” and others that entice Nigerians with “small fees” to visit and invest in Dubai properties as potential areas for increased regulatory scrutiny.
Breaking Silos to Track the Money
Mr Jimoh Oladapo Suleiman, Deputy Director at the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) , emphasised that property laundering often involves complex cycles of shell companies. “By the time we go to project sites and invite those concerned—the agencies and the banks where money went through—you discover that money has moved somewhere else,” he noted. He stressed that without collaboration with the NFIU and EFCC, it would be impossible to see how “money moves in cycles”.
This sentiment was echoed by Oluwatosin Alli-Osori, Principal Risk Analyst at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who warned that “fraud erodes public trust, undermines our financial stability, and imposes steep economic costs for all of us”. She advocated for the adoption of ISO standards to close “residual gaps” in governance and surveillance.
A National Imperative for Reform
Closing the forum, Prof. Oserheimen A. Osunbor, Chairman of the SON NTC on Governance of Organisations, reiterated that the rising incidence of fraud—which saw an “88% rise in reported cases” in the banking sector alone between 2020 and 2023—necessitates a national framework.
He reminded participants that “crime standards don’t go before the judiciary except maybe as a mitigating factor… the courts are charged with the enforcement of the law”12. Consequently, he advocated for the adoption of ISO 37003:2025 to be supported by an “executive order of the President mandating its implementation across all public institutions” to safeguard Nigeria’s economic future.