The bills are: ”The Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition)
Bill, 2016″ and “The Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill,
2016.”
Buhari, in a letter to the Senate and addressed to the Senate
President, Dr Bukola Saraki, said he was introducing the bills for
formal consideration and enactment into law by the legislature.
In the letter read by Saraki, during plenary, Buhari informed that
the first bill provides for the repeal of Money Laundering (Prohibition)
Act 2011 as amended in 2012.
He explained that the bill would “make comprehensive provisions to
prohibit the laundering of criminal activities, expand the scope of
money laundering, and provide protection for employees of various
institutions, bodies and professions who may discover money laundering”.
On the second bill, President Buhari said it “seeks to facilitate the
provision and obtaining by Nigeria of international assistance in
criminal matters.”
These, he stressed, include the provision and obtaining of evidence
and things, and the making of arrangements for persons to give evidence
or assist in criminal investigations.
He further stated that the bill seeks “the recovery, forfeiture or
confiscation of property in respect of offences, the restraining of
dealings in property or the freezing of assets that may be recovered,
forfeited or confiscated in respect of offences.”
