You own or manage a 4 Star Hotel…
One of the best in town.
It has a spa, gym, tennis court, basket ball court, indoor pool, outdoor pool, hot tubs, conference room, fine dining, limousine services…
The rooms are very spacious with large beds and premium bedding, large flat screens TVs, bathrobes, and slippers.
The cheapest room there costs about 50k per night.
One day, you’re minding your business and supervising a new staff at reception desk when the phone rings.
The person calling says he wants to host a business conference during a particular time at your hotel and asks if he can book online… You confirm that he can.
So he pays online for a number of his business partners. He books all the rooms and also pays extra for the conference room.
You are ecstatic!
It’s a lot of money for the hotel and a lot of commission for you.
A week later, the man calls back.
Something has happened and the conference will no longer be taking place.
To your dismay, he wants a refund.
Your policy states that a 70% refund will be made for cancellations received 21 days before date of arrival… so you are then compelled to refund him back his money after deducting your 30%.
He gives you the details of a third party who the payment should be made to.
You make the payment.
What you are unaware of, is that your hotel has just been used to launder illegal money.
Money Laundering is a crime that carries up to 14 years jail sentence, if convicted.
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.
There’s also another way…
Because running a hotel is a cash intensive operation, hotels risk criminals paying for their bills with ill-gotten cash… no questions asked.
This is why if you run a hotel business, you are required by law to register with SCUML (Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering), and comply with reporting requirements.
See flier of the different businesses mandated by law to register with SCUML.
Please send your enquiries to helpdesk@scuml.org and/or infoscuml@efcc.gov.ng.
Other enquiries/complaints not relating to SCUML and it’s activities should be sent to info@efcc.gov.ng.
