Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU)President Chief Emeka Obegolu has called on the National Association of Prosecutors not to limit plea bargain to financial crimes.
He urged them to extend the practice as envisaged under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) beyond financial crimes involving politically exposed persons.
Obegolu said defendants in violent crimes, such as terrorism, rape, armed robbery, should benefit from plea bargain.
He made this call when presenting the lead paper titled: The instrumentality of plea bargain in enhancing speedy dispensation of justice.
It was uring the fifth summit on criminal justice administration organised by the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) and supported by the National Association of Prosecutors (NAP) and the Federal Justice Sector Reform Coordinating Committee (FJSRCC).
It held at the Auditorium of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja.
Obegole said: “With the legislation of plea bargain, the country has witnessed more convictions for allegations of financial crimes.”
He cites the reports released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2018 as a testament to the fact that convictions have increased from what it was in 2017.
“In 2017 there were 189 convictions between January and December 2017 in contrast to 312 cconvictions in 2018 between January and December 2018.”
Obegolu noted prosecutors have not extended plea bargain to violent crimes.
He observed that it is only through plea bargain that the victim of a violent crime can be properly recompensed as to bring a true closure to the incident while serving the interest of justice and public order.
He urged the prosecutors to note Section 1 of the ACJA, which reads: The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the system of administration of criminal Justice in Nigeria promotes efficient management of criminal justice institutions, speedy dispensation of Justice, protection of the society from crime, and protection of rights and interests of the suspect, the defendant and the victim.
He urged them to give true meaning to the purpose of the Act.
The PALU chief urged the organizsers to do more of enlightenment to address the public perception of corruption in the implementation of some reported plea bargain agreements.
He said such misconception leads to to the uninformed conclusion that plea bargain supports corruption and financial crimes.
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