Securities: Nigerian FIU and Central Bank lose patience with securities firms
The Falcon Securities case is having widespread fall-out as the both the Central Bank of Nigeria and the EFCC find increasing evidence of malfeasance in the securities industry.
When the Central Bank of Nigeria rescued five banks recently, and replaced their management over a single weekend, the spotlight soon fell on Falcon Securities - and alleged market manipulation.
Falcon's Managing Director, Peter Ololo , is now in custody with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and under investigation for his alleged role.
And that investigation, and related inquiries, have led Mdm Farida Waziri, EFCC chairman, to conclude that there is widespread collusion between securities companies and some bank officials to manipulate bank shares.
Waziri told a meeting of the Association of Stock-Broking Houses of Nigeria that there were no sacred cows in the investigation and that the EFCC would pursue all lines of inquiry and take legal action where evidence was available.
And then she dropped her bombshell: her team, she said, had uncovered evidence that money plundered from government coffers, she used the term "looted," has been laundered through stockbrokers.
Rasheed Yusuff, chairman, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria, said his organisation will support action to drive out rogue firms.
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