The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Money laundering and Terrorism Amendment Bills. The Money Laundering Amendment Bill seeks to provide effective and comprehensive legal and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment for money laundering.
The Terrorism Amendment Bill seeks to regulate acts of terrorism and increase penalties for the offence. It will be recalled that on Sept. 27, the house debated the general principles of the bills.
Meanwhile, the House has set up a nine-member committee to investigate the alleged payment of N140 billion outstanding debt owed the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) by Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and Forte Oil Plc.
The Leader of the committee is Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, the Minority Leader of the House. Other members of the committee are, Reps. Sani Kalgo, Uzor Azubuike, Idris Wase, Jerry Manwe, Pally Iriase ,Evelyn Ojakavo and Muraina Ajibola.
The committee is expected to report back to the House in four weeks time. The resolution emanated from a motion moved by Rep. Bimbo Daramola (ACN-Ekiti), which was unanimously adopted without debate.
Daramola said that the sudden final settlement of this payment by these organisations was shrouded in secrecy.
He said that if the transaction was not checked, it might cause more catastrophe, worse than the near collapse witnessed in the Nigerian Stock market.
Similarly, the House has constituted a six-man delegation to visit Mubi and Port Harcourt to commiserate with the families of the victims and as well get an on the spot assessment of the incidents.
The members of the delegation are, Reps. Datti Moahhmed, leader, Ali Madaki, Bitrus Kaze, Victor Nwokolo, Femi Odeneye and Aisha Modibbo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on Oct. 2, 40 students of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi in Adamawa were killed by gunmen.
It will also be recalled that a mob in Allu Rivers killed four students of the University of Port Harcourt accused of stealing lap tops and mobile phones.
Copyright © 2012 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.