SCUML seals Tongyi Group for alleged non-compliance with anti-money laundering laws

The Special Control Unit against Money Laundering, SCUML of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, sealed up Tongyi Group, located in Ebitu Ukiwe Street, Jabi, Abuja for alleged non-compliance with Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism, (AML/CFT) regulations.

Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said officers of SCUML shut down the construction and mining entity after it paid no heed to a series of the Unit’s attempts to be compliant with the AML/CFT regime.

By SCUML’s regulations, the seal of non-compliance and closure pasted on the business premises would remain in force until the company embraces full compliance with Nigeria’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws. By shutting down the company, SCUML warned members of the public to be wary of carrying out business transactions with it.

Tongyi Group allegedly violated Nigeria’s Money Laundering Protection and Prohibition Act 2022 as well as the Terrorism Protection and Prohibition Act 2022 all of which are under the AML/CFT regime by refusing to sign SCUML’s checklist and to send statutory reports to the Unit, which form parts of measures SCUML put in place to mitigate money laundering and terrorists financing activities in the country. SCUML, a Unit of the EFCC monitors, supervises, regulates and assesses the activities of Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) and Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs), which are vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist financing.