Worried by the rising tide of Chinese nationals involvement in financial crimes in Nigeria, the Ambassador of China to Nigeria, Yu Dunhai has visited the the Executive Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede at the Commission’s corporate headquarters towards collaboration in tackling cybercrime.
Dunhai, who on Tuesday in Abuja led a delegation of Chinese Embassy officials on the visit, said: “The Chinese government is ready to send out a working group to come here to Nigeria to work with your law enforcement officers to have the evidence collection, the fraud tracing, and to find evidence and bring those criminals to justice.”
The Chinese envoy explained that anti-corruption issues are always priorities both for China and Nigeria, maintaining that law enforcement has been an integral part of bilateral relations between the two countries.
“We understand that over the past couple of months, the EFCC uncovered quite some cybercrime and also telecom frauds which involved some Chinese. As Chinese Ambassador, I feel very much regret for that. But as a country that has a big population, there are always some bad apples. But what I can assure you is that we have zero tolerance for this kind of crime. The Chinese government has always been committed to countering cyber crime and telecom frauds,” he said.
Dunhai disclosed that every Chinese overseas has been instructed to abide by the rules and regulations of their host countries by following all their procedures.
He added: “According to our intelligence and information, we see that there is a trend by criminals to move from other countries to Nigeria. That’s why it resulted in some of the arrests in the past few months. But I can assure you from the Embassy side that we would like to work with you. And this is also the attitude of the Chinese government.”
He condemned the involvement of his compatriots in criminalities in Nigeria but sued for the respect of the rights of those arrested.
“As the Chinese Ambassador, I would also request that the legitimate right of the Chinese citizens, even if they committed a crime, should be well protected and have been assured many times by your colleagues that their legitimate rights are well protected. And I’m thankful for that,” he said.
In his response, Olukoyede expressed delight at the visit and the proposals, noting that mutual respect and benefit have been the bedrock of Nigeria-China relationship.
“The relationship between China and Nigeria has been of mutual benefit and respect. We have so much to benefit from each other. And it is my desire that we build on that existing relationship and strengthen it. A number of times we have had cause to receive your police attache and your other officers here in our office and believe we’ve been having a very good working relationship,” he said.
Olukoyede thanked Chinese authorities for their support to the EFCC and sued for heightening of the relationship.
“We’re going to come up with a memorandum of understanding, law enforcement to law enforcement, so that it will ease the process of exchange and intelligence. Information and intelligence exchange will be good for both countries. I want to thank you for that. Also the issue of capacity development which you have been supporting.
“I also thank you for the support. And just like you said, more will be coming. We appreciate that. We can also transfer our knowledge to them because there are things about our system that they don’t know which we would need to put them through in the interest of the two countries. Security is very key to economic development and that’s why both countries will do everything possible to ensure that we prevent crime from happening,” he said.
In relation to the scores of Chinese undergoing EFCC’s criminal prosecution, Olukoyede assured the delegation of the Commission’s tradition of adherence to global best practices and respect for human dignity in the conduct of its affairs.
“The investigation we carried out in Lagos involved quite a number of Chinese with other nationals. We discovered that some of them didn’t come directly from China. They came from other South Asian countries. That was why I directed on the day we carried out the arrest that we should write to your Embassy.
“Rest assured of due process. We follow the rule of law in whatever we do. As a matter of fact, while we’re preparing for prosecution, they were giving your people Chinese food. They were eating Chinese food. That is to show you how we respect fundamental human rights and due process.
“Rest assured that we’ll continue to collaborate with you. We thank you for your support because you were able to confirm some of their identities for us. If our citizens do anything wrong in your country, we should be able to help you to fight that crime. I believe this is how countries should work together,” he said.
