By Abdulgafar Oladimeji.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has cautioned that the rapid investment in the betting sector in Nigeria is a red flag indicating that the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL is vulnerable to match-fixers.
EFCC’s Principal Detective Superintendent(PDS)Ogbu Chinedu attached to EFCC Kano zonal office, in a paper presentation titled “sports As A Tool For Money Laundering” presented at a one-day training workshop organized by SWAN Kano state chapter said the huge investments flowing into Nigeria’s betting sector is a worrisome development that calls for the alert on the part official football league organizers in Nigeria.
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Ogbu revealed that, if a control mechanism is not erected to check the developments in the betting sector, “people from across the globe will come and bet huge amounts and when they continue to win, match-fixing now becomes possible.”
He warned that football is now at the risk of criminal elements, who are in search of a growing front for flows of large monies.
“football is attracting criminals because of the obscure method of accountability, horse and motor racing are also attracting cross border money flows that go beyond the control of sports governing bodies.
The EFCC detective revealed that football specifically has created the avenue for the conversion of dirty monies to clean monies, explaining that the criminal act is carried out through overvaluation of players and investments in clubs that are liquidated with the aim to launder criminal monies and also indulge in tax evasion.
“football market is easy to penetrate, there are too many actors in the industry, ranging from agents, club owners, government agencies and betting syndicates, the spider-like network makes investigations to be tedious..”Ogbu lamented.
Ogbu disclosed that investigations unveiled that in Europe over £78 billion is been laundered through sports annually.
