Show Me the Money: Leveraging Anti–Money Laundering Tools to Fight Corruption in Nigeria

Nuhu Ribadu, former head of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions, shows how he and his team used international money-laundering laws, especially the Financial Action Task Force, to fight corruption in Nigeria.

The FATF, established by the G-7 in 1989, was designed to control the flows of money enabling illicit trafficking. After 2001, the FATF expanded its mandate to include the prevention of terrorism finance and established new global standards and tools to track and control money laundering. Ribadu used the FATF system and the pressure for reform that it created to build the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission—and to unearth and prosecute illegal activities by some of Nigeria’s highest officials.

His insider's story provides important lessons for corruption fighters in other countries and for policymakers in world capitals.