The Nation Newspaper

Tag: EFCC

  • ‘Oduahgate is acid test for Jonathan, EFCC’

    EDO State House of Assembly’s Majority Leader Phillip Shaibu has said the N255 million armoured cars for Aviation Minister Princess Stella Oduah is an acid test for the Goodluck Jonathan administration in its touted fight against corruption.

    The lawmaker spoke yesterday in Benin, the Edo State capital, on the controversy surrounding the two BMW cars.

    He urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to also beam its searchlight on the Ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources.

    Shaibu said: “I want the EFCC and the House of Representatives to probe her. It is embarrassing to see that the airport she was busy inaugurating is leaking when it rains. That means the jobs were shoddy. So, the EFCC must investigate all the airports’ renovation contracts, because it is the same scam that has also extended to the purchase of the BMW cars. None of them is worth the amount. Our airport is in a mess because the amount quoted can build a new international airport, from available statistics.

    “If President Goodluck Jonathan wants to tell us that he is sincere, Oduah should be sacked and handed over for prosecution. That should be done in public. It is a test for Jonathan to show that he and his government are not corrupt. He should clear his name of the rumoured corruption going on under his watch.

    Shaibu feared that upright women in the society might disown the Aviation Minister for the “embarrassment” the armoured cars’ saga has caused.

    He said: “With due respect to the women of this country, I am one of the advocates for women occupying public offices, because I believe that since women are more prudent in home management if given responsibility they would carry out the function they put at home in public service. I don’t want to use Oduah as an example of what women are doing, because by the way she is going, I am sure the womenfolk would disown her soon.”

  • GIABA to banks: report suspicious transactions to FIU

    GIABA to banks: report suspicious transactions to FIU

    •Urges EFCC to fight corruption

    INTER-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has advised banks to report suspicious transactions by customers to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) as well as observe customer due diligence.

    GIABA’s Information Officer Timothy Melaye said such steps would keep Nigeria out of the list of countries identified as jurisdictions with significant deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes.

    Melaye told The Nation that banks should do more to ensure that they understand their customers’ businesses better, saying Nigeria has taken the right step, including the establishment of a legal and regulatory framework that will assist it to meet its anti-money laundering initiatives.

    He said GIABA has been supporting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the fight against corruption, urging that the Federal Government should increase funding to EFCC as such would help it in the fight against graft. “The EFCC is getting the needed support from GIABA and we want the Nigerian government to provide the necessary support for the body to carry out its work more efficiently,” he added.

    In a statement, GIABA said: “The Financial Action Task Force ( FATF) welcomes Nigeria’s significant progress in improving its AML/CFT regime and notes that Nigeria has established the legal and regulatory framework to meet its commitments in its Action Plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF had identified in February 2010.

    “Nigeria is, therefore, no longer subject to FATF’s monitoring process under its on-going global AML/CFT compliance process. Nigeria will work with GIABA as it continues to address the full range of issues identified in its Mutual Evaluation Report.”

    The FATF is the global standard setting body for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).

    To enforce greater compliance with acceptable International Standards, the FATF, in collaboration with FATF Styled-Regional Bodies (FSRBs) undertake targeted review of countries/jurisdictions identified with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies with a view to protecting the international financial system from Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) risks arising from such deficiencies.

  • Three arraigned over N135m theft

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday arraigned two women and a male accomplice before a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, for stealing N135 million.

    The women are- Tejumola Okemakinde and Ige Egbeyemi while their male accomplice is Olukayode Adeoye.

    They were arraigned before the court presided by Justice Atinuke Ipaye.

    The EFCC had arraigned the defendants and their companies, Povyte Ventures Limited, Whales and Chase Limited and Tenumola Onike Enterprise Limited on a 34-count charge of conspiracy, stealing, forgery, uttering and use of false documents.

    Counsel to the EFCC, Mrs. Fadeke Giwa, alleged that the defendants conspired with one Irene Egbeyemi (now at large) to steal the sum of N135million, property of Lily Pond Container Limited.

    The offence was reportedly committed between May and September 2011 at Apapa, Lagos.

    According to the prosecution, the defendants forged documents and bank cheques to facilitate the theft.

    She alleged that the funds, broken into various sums, were deposited in the defendants’ respective accounts domiciled with Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank of Nigeria Plc and Stanbic IBTC.

    According to her, their alleged offences contravened Sections 275, 285, 363, 364 and 401 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.

    All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and appealed for bail.

    Justice Ipaye ordered that the defendants be remanded in prison custody.

    She thereafter adjourned the matter till November 11 for hearing of their bail applications.

     

     

  • Court frees ex-EFCC investigator charged with impersonation, extortion

    Court frees ex-EFCC investigator charged with impersonation, extortion

    Reprieve has come the way of an ex-investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Victor Osita Uwajeh, as an Abuja High Court discharged and acquitted him on charges of impersonation preferred against him by the commission.

    By exhibit tendered in court, Uwajeh, a United Kingdom (UK) based private investigator, was engaged by the commission under Mrs. Farida Waziri in 2008 to probe some Politically Exposed Individuals (PEIs) and suspected  bank executives.

    Sometime in 2010 the commission accused him of impersonating its personnel and extortion.

    He was alleged to have solicited for bribe from convicted former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the now defunct Oceanic Bank Plc, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru.

    The EFCC arraigned him on a six-count charge before Justice Ugochukwu Ogakwu of the Abuja High Court, Jabi, and charged him with forgery, impersonation, extortion and false issuance of fake EFCC complimentary cards with intent to defraud the public.

    In a judgment, Justice Ogakwu held that the case against Uwajeh was predicated on suspicion and, therefore, dismissed it.

    The judge also held that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt of the accused by virtue of the evidence it produced before the court.

    Justice Ogakwu said the prosecution failed to prove the case of forgery, extortion and impersonation beyond reasonable doubts as none of the witnesses testified that the accused was directly linked to any act of forgery, impersonation and extortion.

    The judge noted that the prosecution could not present petitions written against the accused.

    “There is no eyewitness testimony or any irresistible circumstantial evidence on the basis of which the charge can be said to have been established beyond reasonable doubt.

    “A rational and incisive examination of the evidence in this matter has disclosed that the prosecution did not discharge the burden cast upon it, of proving the offences charged beyond reasonable doubt.

    “The doubt which I entertain as to the guilt of the accused person must be resolved in his favour.

    “I therefore return a verdict of not guilty in respect of all the counts of the six-count charge preferred against the accused person. The accused person is consequently discharged and acquitted,”Justice Ogakwu held.

  • No hearing date in case against Odili

    No hearing date in case against Odili

    FIVE years after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) appealed against the perpetual injunction granted in favour of former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili, the anti-graft agency is yet to get a hearing date, Mr. Kayode Oladele, the Chief of Staff to EFCC chair Ibrahim Lamorde said yesterday.

    Oladele spoke in Lagos at a workshop on financial and economic crimes reportage organised for reporters by the commission.

    He decried the frustrations the EFCC go through as a result of the lapses in the criminal justice system, just as he blamed the judiciary for taking advantage of those lapses to favour suspects.

    “Immediately the permanent order was given, we quickly appealed it at the Appeal Court, Port Harcourt Division. But five years after filing the appeal, we have not been given a hearing date.

    “We feel that any case that involves public interest as such should not have been so treated by the court. In a case that involves corruption, how can you grant a permanent injunction of not being prosecuted? It is as if someone is being shielded from prosecution?” he said.

    Oladele urged reporters to make the judiciary account for delays in prosecution, stressing the need for journalists to utilise the Freedom of Information Act.

    According to him, the EFCC has put in a lot of efforts in combating corruption, noting that many have gone unnoticed because they do not involve politicians.

    “Our mandate is very wide and like I said earlier, we have filed over 300 cases since the beginning of this year but because it does not involve politically exposed persons, not many people are talking about them.

    “The EFCC handles over 8000 petitions in a year, some of them we refer to other agencies that we feel are also competent to handle them, those that are frivolous, we discard and those who have established a case against, we charge to court,” Oladele said.

  • No selective probe, says Lamorde

    The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) yesterday denied that the agency only goes after those who fall out of favour with the government.

    EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Lamonde spoke in Lagos when he opened a workshop on Economic Crimes Reporting.

    Lamonde, who described the situation as “less desirable”, noted that there was no truth in saying that the EFCC had gone to sleep.

    “This is sad,” he said.

    The agency’s chairman noted that corruption threatened all sectors of the economy, including the media.

    He said nobody found to have committed an economic or financial crime against the country or any Nigerian was free from the searchlight of the organisation.

    The EFCC chairman, who was represented by its Director of Operations, Mr. Olaolu Adegbite, urged the media to use its investigative skills to help the agency in the fight against corruption.

    He said: “The media must exercise its constitutional mandate as the Fourth Estate of the Realm with the highest sense of responsibility.

  • No hearing date on appeal against Odili’s injunction – EFCC

    No hearing date on appeal against Odili’s injunction – EFCC

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said on Monday that five years after the commission appealed the perpetual injunction granted former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili, it was yet to get a hearing date.

    Kayode Oladele, the Chief of Staff to EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, made the disclosure in Lagos at a workshop on financial and economic crimes reportage organized for journalists by the commission.

    He decried the frustrations the EFCC goes through as a result of the lapses in the criminal justice System, just as he blamed the judiciary for taking advantage of those lapses to favour suspects.

    “Immediately the permanent order was given, we quickly appealed it at the Appeal Court, Port Harcourt Division. But five years after filing the appeal, we have not been given a hearing date.

    “We feel that any case that involves public interest as such should not have been so treated by the court. In a case that involves corruption, how can you grant a permanent injunction of not being prosecuted? It is as if someone is being shielded from prosecution?” he queried.

    Oladele urged journalists to make the judiciary account for delays in prosecution, stressing the need for media practitioners to utilise the Freedom of Information Act.

    According to Oladele, the EFCC has put in a lot of efforts in combating corruption in the country, noting that many have gone unnoticed because they do not involve politicians.

    “Our mandate is very wide and like I said earlier we have filed over 300 cases since the beginning of this year but because it does not involve politically exposed persons not many people are talking about them.

    “The EFCC handles over 8,000 petitions in a year, some of them we refer to other agencies that we feel are also competent to handle them, those that are frivolous, we discard and those who have established a case against, we charge to court,” Oladele said.

     

  • EFCC denies selective investigation of corruption cases

    EFCC denies selective investigation of corruption cases

    The Economic and Financial Crime Commission on Monday denied that the agency only goes after those that fell out of favour with the government.

    The Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, made this clarification in Lagos while declaring open a workshop on economic crimes reporting.

    Lamorde, who described the situation as “less desirable” said there was no truth whatsoever in the notion now making the round that it has gone to sleep.

    “This is sad,” he said, pointing out that this is not so because corruption threatens all sectors of the economy, the media inclusive.

    He remarked that nobody found to have committed economic and financial crimes either against the country or other Nigerians is free from the searchlight of the organisation.

    The EFCC chairman, who was represented by the Director of Operations of the agency, Mr. Olaolu Adegbite, urged the media to lend its investgative skills to assist the EFCC to fight corruption rather than allowing itself to be sucked by the corrupt individuals.

    “The media must exercise its constitutional mandate as the fourth estate of the realm with the highest sense of responsibility.

    “Issues about corruption and economic crimes are sensitive and there is need for journalists to always verify their facts before publication,” he said.

    Stressing the need for the media to support its activities more than ever before, Lamorde said the media is a very critical stakeholder in the anti-graft war, pointing out that they could make or mar the fight against economic crimes and corruption.

     

     

  • Delta loses bid to retrieve Ibori‘s $15m

    Delta loses bid to retrieve Ibori‘s $15m

    …Court orders its forfeiture to FG

    The Delta State Government failed on Friday in its bid to claim the $15 million allegedly offered as bribe by former governor James Ibori to officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

    A Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja ordered that the money, estimated at N4.6b, be forfeited to the Federal Government.

    Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in a judgment held that the earlier denial by Ibori that he owned the money, and the failure of Delta State to prove that the fund was removed from its treasury, qualified the money as an “unclaimed property.”

    The judge further held that in view of the circumstances surrounding the case, where people were reluctant to openly claim its ownership, the money qualified to be forfeited to the Federal Government “as fund derived from unlawful act,” as stipulated under the Money Laundering and EFCC Acts 2004.

    The judge wondered why no one claimed the money between April 25 and 26, 2007 when EFCC said the money was offered its officials by Ibori and July 27, 2012 when the FG advertised in a national daily that the fund was to be forfeited.

    Justice Kolawole, who dubbed the case – “the unclaimed $15m scandal,” – queried why the Delta State government waited until a July 27 advertorial published by the FG, before it decided to claim ownership of the money.

    The EFCC had in April 2007 accused Ibori of offering its then Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu and some others officials $15 million bribe in a bid to stop his prosecution.

     

     

  • Atuche: EFCC ordered to produce trial document

    Atuche: EFCC ordered to produce trial document

    Justice Lateefat Okunnu of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, on Friday ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to produce some documents relating to the on-going trial of former managing director of Bank PHB, Mr. Francis Atuche, within seven days.

    The documents which the court ordered the commission to produce include board resolutions of four companies – Integrated Services Limited, Futureview Financial Services Limited, Tradjeck Limited and Extra Oil Limited.

    The judge had on October 2 issued a subpoena on the EFCC, and ordered the commission to produce the documents on or before the next sitting of the court on November 1.

    Atuche and his wife, Elizabeth, were charged to court by the EFCC, alongside a former Chief Financial Officer of the bank, Ugo Anyanwu .

    They are standing trial for allegedly stealing N25.7 billion belonging to Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank).

    At the resumed trial of the matter on Friday, Atuche’s counsel, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), asked the court to order the EFCC to produce the original documents.

    Chief Idigbe said the documents are very relevant to the charge as they relate to a N10.9 billion credit facility Atuche had allegedly granted to the companies, without their knowledge.

    He alleged that the original copies of the said documents were in the custody of the EFCC.

    An EFCC official, Mr. Boniface Uzoechi, who reacted on behalf of the prosecution, admitted that the documents are in the custody of the commission.

    Uzoechi however told the court that the said documents were at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja and only got to know that the court was sitting on Friday.