Federal Republic of Nigeria

Official Gazette

No. 81
Lagos - 30th September, 2011
Vol. 98

Government Notice No. 163

The following is published as Supplement to this Gazette :

S. I. No.	Short Title	Page
29	Terrorism Prevention (Freezing of International Terrorists Funds and Other Related Measures) Regulations, 2011	B 1067-1080

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TERRORISM PREVENTION (FREEZING OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISTS FUNDS AND OTHER RELATED MEASURES) REGULATIONS, 2011

ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS

Regulations :

PART I—PREAMBLE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE

1. Preamble.
2. Purpose.
3. Scope.
4. Preparation and modification of Nigeria’s List by the Attorney-General.

PART II—FREEZING PROCEDURE 5. Freezing of funds held by a designated person. 6. Reference to Lists by Financial and Designated Non-Financial Institutions in transactions. 7. Dealing with funds held by a designated person. 8. Report by an Institution to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.

PART III—PROHIBITION AGAINST MAKING FUNDS OR ECONOMIC RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO DESIGNATED PERSONS 9. Prohibition of making funds or economic resources available to designated persons. 10. Circumventing prohibitions, etc.

PART IV—CONDITIONS AND PROCEDURE FOR UTILIZATION OF FROZEN FUNDS 11. Approval for usage of frozen funds. 12. Procedure for utilization of frozen funds. 13. Receipt of additional funds into frozen accounts. 14. Application to defreeze where funds were frozen in error.

PART V—INFORMATION AND REPORTING OBLIGATIONS 15. Dissemination of Lists and issuance of guidelines by the Attorney-General. 16. Information on measures taken pursuant to these Regulations. 17. Information on the Lists. 18. Application for Deletion from List.

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19. Notice of amendment to Lists to be given.
20. Channel of communication with United Nations.
21. Power to request for information.
22. Failure to comply with request for information.
23. Co-operation with domestic or international investigations.
24. General power to disclose information.
25. Unlawful disclosure of Information.

PART VI—PENALTIES AND SANCTIONS 26. Penalties. 27. Sanctions.

PART VII—MISCELLANEOUS 28. Interpretation. 29. Citation.

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S. I. 29 of 2011
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TERRORISM PREVENTION (FREEZING OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISTS FUNDS AND OTHER RELATED MEASURES) REGULATIONS, 2011

In the exercise of powers conferred by sub-section (6) of section 9 and section 39 of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 (“the Act”), I, MOHAMMED BELLO ADOKE, SAN, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, make the following Regulations:

[29th September, 2011] Commencement.

PART I—PREAMBLE, PURPOSE AND SCOPE

1.—(1) Nigeria being a member of the United Nations and in pursuit of its commitment to international peace and security as enunciated under the Charter of the United Nations has enacted the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 which authorizes the Attorney-General to make Regulations for the purpose of implementing the provisions of the Act and relevant United Nations Resolutions.

(2) The United Nations Security Council, by Resolutions 1267 (1999), 1333 (2000), 1373 (2001), 1390 (2002), 1452 (2002), 1455 (2003), 1526 (2004), 1617 (2005), 1735 (2006), 1822 (2008) and 1904 (2009) require all member States to freeze the assets, prevent the entry into or the transit through their territories and prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer of arms and military equipment with regard to any individual or entity associated with Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden or the Taliban as designated by the Council’s Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee.

(3) By Resolution 1988 (2011), the United Nations Security Council split the Al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions regime into two groups—an Al-Qaida regime and a country-specific Afghanistan regime.

2.—(1) These Regulations—

(a) prescribe the procedure for the freezing of funds, financial assets or other economic resources of any suspected international terrorist or an international terrorist group (in these Regulations referred to as “designated person”);

(b) stipulate the type of financial or other related services which may not be provided to a designated person;

(c) prohibit the entry into or transit within Nigeria of a designated person; and

(d) prohibit transactions or dealings for the supply of arms to or the conduct of training for designated persons.

3.—(1) The scope of application of these Regulations shall include :

(a) the designated persons contained in the Consolidated List of the United Nations Sanctions Committee (“the UN Consolidated List”);

(b) the designated persons contained in the List drawn up by Nigeria pursuant to the provisions of subsections (1)(a) and (c) or 4(a) and (c) of section 9 of the Act (“the Nigeria List”); and

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(c) any dealing or transaction concerning the designated person on the UN Consolidated List or on the Nigeria List (together referred to in these Regulations as “the Lists”).

(2) These Regulations extend to any person or entity notwithstanding any rights granted to or obligations imposed under any existing international agreement or contract made prior to the date of coming into force of these Regulations.

4.—(1) Whenever the President declares that a person is a suspected international terrorist or declares a group to be an international terrorist group for reasons other than those provided for under subsections (1)(b) or (4)(b) of section 9 of the Act, the Attorney-General shall enter the name and other details of such a person or group in the Nigeria List.

(2) The Attorney-General may remove or amend the name of a person or group or any other relevant details under the Nigeria List whenever the President revokes or amends a declaration made under section 9 of the Act.

(3) The Attorney-General shall cause the Nigeria List, including any revision or amendment as may be made thereto from time to time, to be disseminated for the purpose of these Regulations.

PART II—FREEZING PROCEDURE

5.—(1) The funds or other economic resources owned, held or controlled, directly or indirectly by a designated person whose name and other details are on the Lists shall be frozen.

(2) Freezing of funds shall be without prejudice to the rights of third parties acting in good faith.

(3) For the purpose of sub-regulation (1) of this Regulation, in determining whether funds are controlled by a designated person, the fact that such funds are held in the name of an associate or relation is immaterial.

(4) All funds and other economic resources frozen under this Regulation shall be recorded against the names of the owners and beneficial owners for proper management.

6.—(1) Any Financial and Designated Non-Financial Institution (in these Regulations referred to as “the Institution”) shall refer to the UN Consolidated List and the Nigeria List prior to conducting any transaction or entering into any relationship with any person or entity to ascertain whether or not the name of such a person or entity is on the Lists.

(2) Where the name of a person or of an entity is confirmed to be on the Lists, the Institution shall block the funds or any other economic resources identified as belonging to or connected with the person or entity on the Lists and shall ensure that the account is not operated and thereafter forward to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit “NFIU” a “suspicious transaction report” including

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reports or information on all actions taken to freeze the funds and other economic resources and the NFIU shall in turn make a report to the Attorney-General.

7.—(1) A person shall not deal with funds or other economic resources owned, held or controlled directly or indirectly by a designated person save as provided for under these Regulations.

(2) A person contravenes the provision of sub-regulation (1) of this Regulation where he deals with the funds or other economic resources—

(i) Knowingly ; or

(ii) having reasonable cause to suspect,
that the funds or economic resources were owned, held or controlled by a designated person.

(3) In this Regulation, a “person” includes—

(a) a customer, staff, associate or affiliate of the Institution or any person or entity connected with the designated person ;

(b) a customer, staff, associate or affiliate of the Institution at any time in the period of 5 years immediately preceding the relevant designation being made ; or

(c) any person with whom the Institution has had dealings in the course of its business during the period referred to in paragraph (b) of sub-regulation (3) of this Regulation.

8.—(1) Where an Institution makes a report to the NFIU under sub-regulations (2) of Regulation 6 and sub-regulation (1) of this Regulation, it shall state :

(a) the information or other matter on which the knowledge or suspicion is based ;

(b) any information it holds about the person by which the person can be identified ; and

(c) the nature and amount or quantity of any funds or economic resources held by the Institution for the person at any time up to 5 years prior to the designation being made.

(2) Where an Institution credits a frozen account in accordance with Regulation 13 of these Regulations, it shall promptly report the transaction to the NFIU which shall inform the Attorney-General accordingly.

(3) An Institution that fails to comply with the requirements of this Regulation commits an offence.

(4) In this Part, “deal with” means :

(a) In relation to funds :

(i) use, alter, move, allow access to or transfer ;

(ii) deal with in any other way that would result in any change in volume, amount, location, ownership, possession, character or destination ; or

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(iii) make any other change that would enable use, including portfolio management ; and

(b) in relation to other economic resources exchange or use to obtain funds, goods or services in any way, including by selling, hiring or mortgaging the resources.

PART III—PROHIBITION AGAINST MAKING FUNDS OR ECONOMIC RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO DESIGNATED PERSONS

9.—(1) A person shall not make available, directly or indirectly, funds or other economic resources to or for the benefit of a designated person.

(2) A person who contravenes the provisions of sub-regulation (1) of this Regulation commits an offence if :

(a) in the case of funds, that person knows or ought to have reasonably suspected that the funds were being made available directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of a designated person ; or

(b) in the case of other economic resources, that person knows or ought to have reasonably suspected that the—

(i) economic resources were being made available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of a designated person ; and

(ii) designated person would be likely to exchange the economic resources or use them in exchange for funds, goods or services.

10.—(1) It is an offence for a person to participate knowingly and intentionally in activities the object or effect of which is, directly or indirectly to :

(a) circumvent the prohibition in sub-regulations (1) and (2) of Regulation 9 of these Regulations ; or

(b) enable or facilitate the contravention of the provisions of sub-regulations (1) and (2) of Regulation 9 of these Regulations.

(2) A person upon being aware of a violation of the provisions of the sub-regulations (1) and (2) of Regulation 9 of these Regulations shall immediately report the violation to the appropriate law enforcement agency which shall in turn transmit the report to the Attorney-General.

(3) It is an offence under these Regulations to warn or in any other way intimate a designated person or owner or controller of the funds that are subject to the measures in Parts II and III of these Regulations about :

(a) the report that a person is required to make under sub-regulation (2) of this Regulation ; or

(b) any action taken on the report made pursuant to this Regulation.

PART IV—CONDITIONS AND PROCEDURE FOR UTILIZATION OF FROZEN FUNDS

11. The Attorney-General may, where necessary, approve the utilization of the frozen funds or any part thereof or of other economic resources for any of the following :

(a) to meet the basic needs and expenses of a designated person or a person or entity under investigation whose funds have been frozen including the amounts required to meet expenditures on food, rental, real estate mortgage, medical needs, taxes, insurance premiums and such other general expenses as the Attorney-General may approve;

(b) for reasonable professional fees and settlement of expenses, including legal services, bank and related charges; and

(c) for any other exceptional services not provided for in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Regulation.

12.—(1) An application to utilize monies from frozen funds shall be made to the Attorney-General by a designated person or his authorized representative with supporting documents.

(2) The Attorney-General shall consider the application and may grant, reduce or refuse the request made in the application as considered reasonable in the circumstance.

(3) In the case of a designated person on the UN Consolidated List, the Attorney-General shall inform the Sanctions Committee of his intention to approve the utilization of the frozen fund or any part thereof and where the Sanctions Committee fails to communicate its endorsement or rejection within 5 working days, the funds may be utilized as approved by the Attorney-General.

(4) The Institution or any other party in custody of the frozen funds shall be informed in writing to implement the approval and furnish a report to the Attorney-General of the action taken.

(5) A designated person or entity on either of the Lists or his representative is entitled to be informed of the approval or rejection of his application in writing.

13.—(1) Any sum of monies or funds accruing to the frozen account, including:

(a) interests or other earnings due on the account;

(b) payments due under contracts, agreements or obligations that were concluded or arose before the account became a frozen account; or

(c) funds transferred to the account,

shall be received and credited into the frozen account and shall constitute part of the frozen funds and the Institution shall file a report of the receipt of such additional funds with the NFIU which shall inform the Attorney-General accordingly.

(2) Monies or funds received or credited into a frozen account shall be subject to the prohibition and measures contained in Parts II and III of these Regulations.

(3) Where there is no existing account for the receipt of funds as provided under this Regulation, the Institution shall inform the Attorney-General for appropriate action to be taken in this respect.

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Procedure for utilization of frozen funds.
Receipt of additional funds into frozen accounts.

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Unlawful disclosure of Information.

25.—(1) A person who in the course of his duties, knows or is in possession of any information submitted or exchanged pursuant to the provisions of these Regulations, shall not disclose such information in any form whatsoever, including the disclosure of the source of the information except for the purpose of implementing these Regulations.

(2) The prohibition on disclosure in sub-regulation (1) of this Regulation shall continue even after the termination of the duties of the person.

PART VI—PENALTIES AND SANCTIONS

Penalties.

26.—(1) An offence may be committed under these Regulations by any person—

(a) in Nigeria ; or

(b) elsewhere who is a Nigerian citizen.

(2) A person who contravenes any of the provisions of these Regulations shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term of 5 years or to a fine of not less than N1,000,000.00 or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(3) Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a designated terrorist group, every member of the group shall on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term of 5 years.

(4) In the case of a violation of the provisions of these Regulations by an Institution, entity or other body corporate, the principal officers of the Institution, entity or body corporate shall on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 5 years.

Sanctions.

27. In the case of repeated violations of any of the provisions of these Regulations by an Institution, entity or other body corporate, the Attorney-General shall make a report to the appropriate regulatory authority of the Institution, entity, or body corporate for sanctions as may be deemed appropriate.

PART VII—MISCELLANEOUS

Interpretation.

28. In these Regulations—

“appropriate regulatory authority” means the regulatory body in relation to any institution or sphere of activity regulated by law and where there are more than one such bodies, it means the regulatory body with the mandate to sanction or punish erring institutions or persons engaged in the activity ;

“Attorney-General” means the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice ;

“Competent Authority” means the body or person designated by a member State of the United Nations for the purpose of enforcing Resolution 1373 (2001) and related Resolutions of the Security Council of the United Nations ;

“Consolidated List” means :

(a) the List prepared and adopted by the Sanctions Committee of the

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(2) The Attorney-General shall inform a designated person about the possibility of—

(a) utilizing part of the frozen funds or other resources in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations ; and

(b) submitting complaints to the Attorney-General or the United Nations Ombudsman in accordance with the provision of Regulation 18 of these Regulations.

Information on the Lists.

17.—(1) The Lists to which these Regulations apply shall comprise information relating to the designated person for the purpose of determining his identity.

(2) Information pertaining to a designated person shall include the—

(a) name of the person, family and pseudo names and titles, if any ;

(b) place and date of birth or if a company, the date of registration including the registration number ;

(c) nationality or address of the registered office ;

(d) sex ;

(e) addresses ;

(f) occupation or job ;

(g) date of inclusion of name in the Lists ; and

(h) any other information as may be considered relevant by the Attorney-General or approved by the Sanctions Committee.

Application for deletion from Lists.

18.—(1) A designated person who wishes to have his name deleted from the Lists may, in respect of the—

(a) Nigeria List, submit an application to the Attorney-General ; or

(b) UN Consolidated List, submit an application through the Attorney-General to the Ombudsman,

stating reasons for the application.

(2) Where the Attorney-General has proposed the inclusion of a name in the UN Consolidated List and the person bearing that name has applied to the Ombudsman for the deletion of his name from the UN Consolidated List, the Attorney-General may submit to the Ombudsman any additional information pertinent to the consideration of the application.

(3) Where the Ombudsman refers an application to the Attorney-General for comments, the Attorney-General shall within the time specified by the Ombudsman respond to the request stating reasons for the recommendation for inclusion in the UN Consolidated List.

(4) The Attorney-General may ask questions or request for any clarification from the applicant in addition to responding to other queries raised by the Ombudsman.

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“Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit” or “NFIU” means the Unit established under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act, No. 50, 2004 ;

“International Resolutions” means the United Nations Security Council Resolutions No. 1267 (1999), 1333 (2000), 1373 (2001), 1390 (2002), 1452 (2002), 1455 (2003), 1526 (2004), 1617 (2005), 1735 (2006), 1822 (2008), 1904 (2009) and other relevant Resolutions ;

“International terrorist group” means a group declared by the President under section 9 of the Act to be an International terrorist group or by the UN Sanctions Committee ;

“Nigeria List” means the List referred to in Regulation 3(1)(b) of these Regulations ;

“Ombudsman” means the person appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations to provide assistance to the Sanctions Committee upon reviewing the applications for deleting the names of persons and named entities from the Consolidated List ;

“relevant authorities” includes appropriate regulatory authorities, law enforcement agencies, the Federal Ministries of Interior, Defence, the Nigerian Immigration Service and any person or entity that has the responsibility under the Act, any law, rule, regulations or directions for carrying out counter terrorism activities ;

“Sanctions Committee” means the Committee established according to the Security Council Resolution No. 1267 (1999) with respect to Al-Qa’eda Organization, Osama Bin Ladin, Taliban Movement and all persons and entities linked with them ;

“suspected international terrorist” means a person declared by the President under section 9 of the Act to be a suspected international terrorist ;

“terrorism”, “terrorists” and “terrorist organization” shall have the respective meanings ascribed to them under the Act ;

“the Act” means the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011.

Citation.

29. These Regulations may be cited as the Terrorism Prevention (Freezing of International Terrorists Funds) Regulations, 2011

MADE at Abuja this 29th day of September, 2011.

MOHAMMED BELLO ADOKE, SAN  
Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation  
and Minister of Justice.