Rule 77 Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners

Rule 77 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (RPC) 2023 is about Interpretation. It is under Chapter 3 (Miscellaneous Provisions) of the Rules. It provides as follows:

In these Rules —
“Act” means the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap L11, Laws of the Federation
of Nigeria, 2004.

“AML/CIT” means Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism ;

“Beneficial Owner” means natural person(s) who ultimately owns or controls a customer and/or the natural person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted. It also includes those persons who exercise ultimate effective control over a legal person or arrangement ;

“CDD” means Client’s Due Diligence ;

“EDD” means Enhanced Due Diligence ;

“Judge” includes any officer carrying out judicial functions in a Court ;

“Lawyer” means legal practitioner as defined by the Legal Practitioners Act ;

“ML/TF” means Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing

“Money laundering”—means when criminals ‘clean’ the proceeds (the financial gains) of crime. Criminals transform proceeds into assets, such as houses or businesses, or other seemingly legitimate funds, for example, money in a bank account. In some cases, laundered money is used to fund terrorism.
Money laundering makes these proceeds look like genuine sources of income, which criminals can then spend freely and without raising suspicion. Such criminals often make their money from serious crimes such as fraud, or people, wildlife and drug trafficking. Solicitors’ firms are attractive targets for money laundering. Passing the proceeds of crime through a firm can —
(i) make them appear legitimate, as a result of the regard in which solicitors are held,
(ii) transform funds into an asset, eg a house, shares, or a company, making it harder to trace,
(iii) move funds to other parties or out of the jurisdiction,

There are three acknowledged stages of Money Laundering —
(a) Placement
Cash generated from crime is placed in the financial system. This is the point when proceeds of crime are most apparent and at risk of detection. Because banks and financial institutions have developed AML procedures,
criminals look for other ways of placing cash within the financial system. Independent legal professionals can be targeted because they and their practices commonly deal with client money,

(b) Layering
Once the proceeds of crime are in the financial system, layering involves obscuring the origins of the proceeds by passing them through complex transactions. These often involve different entities, for example, companies
and trusts and can take place in multiple jurisdictions. An independent legal professional may be targeted at this stage and detection can be difficult,

(c) Integration
Once the origin of the funds has been obscured, the criminal is able to make the funds appear to be legitimate funds or assets. They will invest funds in legitimate businesses or other forms of investment, often, for example,
using an independent legal professional to buy a property, set up a trust, acquire a company, or even settle litigation, among other activities. This is the most difficult stage at which to detect money laundering,

“NBA” means the Nigerian Bar Association ;

“NBAAMLC ” means the Nigerian Bar Association Anti Money Laundering
Committee ;

“PEPs” means Foreign and domestic PEPs which are —
(a) individuals who are or have been entrusted by a foreign country or domestically with pro:ninent public functions, for example Heads of State or of government, senior politicians, senior government, judicial or military
officials, senior executives of state — owned corporations, important political party officials,

(b) Persons who are or have been entrusted with a prominent function by an international organisation refers to members of senior management, as directors, deputy directors and members of the board or equivalent
functions, provided that the definition of PEPs is not intended to cover middle ranking or more junior individuals in the foregoing categories :
“SRB” means the NBA and or the NBAAMLC in the necessitating circumstance ; and

“STR” means Suspicious Transaction Report.