The acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mohammed Umar on Monday, warned Designated Non-Financial Institutions, DNFIs, across the country against un-reported suspicious transactions to appropriate government agencies.

Umar made the declaration at EFCC Academy, in Karu Abuja, during the opening ceremony of a four-day training on “Asset Tracing and Investigation,” organized by the EFCC for its officers, drawn from its 14 zonal offices.

According to him, in a statement by Dele Oyewale, Head, Media and Publicity and made available to Ashenewsonline, stiff penalties would be meted out to any erring DFNI in this regard.

The training, which is aimed at further equipping the Commission’s officers with skills on how to trace, identify and recover proceeds of economic and financial crimes, runs alongside another course on Microsoft Excel, geared towards aiding investigative officers in building database, and skill acquisition on chart linking on recovered assets.

“If any of the defaulting DNFIs is penalized and used as an example, others will all wake up to complying with the requirement of the law, which mandates them to report all transactions within a stipulated threshold,” Umar, who was represented by the Academy’s acting commandant, Itam Nnaghe Obono, said.

Ashenewsonline reports that DFNIs are statutorily required to file reports of suspicious transactions to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML), domiciled in the EFCC.

Their non-compliance may yield prosecution of any erring institution or individual.