Ibrahim Magu, acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says accountability, probity and transparency are crucial in the protection of investments.
Magu made this known when a management team of the Securities and Exchange Commission visited him in Abuja, EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said in a statement.
Magu commended the collaborative efforts between the two agencies which he said had led to recovery of stolen monies.
Magu said: “The work is so enormous but the collective efforts and collaboration are absolutely necessary so that a lot of ground will be covered.”
He assured the SEC team of the EFCC’s commitment to its mandate and implementation of the MoU between the SEC and the anti-graft agency.
Magu also said that joint training would be organised in future to bridge the gap between both agencies.
Magu, however, advised the SEC to always tip off the EFCC before suspension of erring brokers to increase the chances of successful investigations and recovery of money.
Earlier, the Director-General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo, who led the delegation, decried the limitations to the commission’s n enforcement authority.
Gwarzo said over the years, this had hampered the SEC’s effectiveness in recovering money lost by investors to fraudulent brokers and dealers.
He said that the close collaboration between the SEC and the EFCC had yielded numerous mutual benefits including “invaluable training of SEC staff by the EFCC as well as an MoU in the works”.
Gwarzo also said that several criminal cases against defaulters of SEC policies that were not under the SEC’s jurisdiction had been sent to the EFCC, and feed backs received on their status.
The director general stressed that closer collaboration between both agencies would go a long way in restoring confidence of local and foreign investors.