malpractices, illegal arms deal, smuggling, human trafficking
and child labour, illegal oil bunkering and illegal mining, tax
evasion,
foreign
exchange
malpractices,
including
counterfeiting of currency, theft of intellectual property and
piracy, open market abuse, dumping of toxic wastes and
prohibited goods etc.”
The above definition in my view, does not presume to be
comprehensive, nor is it able to cover all conduct that can be imaginably
conceived as economic or financial crime. By and large, the key element in
these concepts include the fact that both economic and financial crimes
involve a sort of law breaking and thus such conduct must be criminalized
by law, it is therefore a crime. The second element is the fact that the
action in whole or in part is intended to gain some benefits. The third and
perhaps, the final one is the fact that the act involves concealment or
disguising the true origin, ownership, purpose and movement of the
persons and instrumentalities involved in it.
Now having defined and x-rayed the various components of
economic and financial crimes, let me consider the offence with which the
Respondent was arraigned and subjected to trial at the lower Court. The
relevant charge is on page 1 of the record and it read as follows:
“That you SENATOR UMAR TAFIDA while being the
chairman of Hijrah Textiles Company Limited and Hijrah
Investment limited sometimes between 2016 and 2017 at
Sokoto within Sokoto Judicial Division of the High Court of
Justice of Sokoto State being entrusted with the total sum of
CA/S/114C/2022
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