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Tag: EFCC

  • EFCC intercepts N15.5b at airports, says Lamorde

    EFCC intercepts N15.5b at airports, says Lamorde

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde yesterday said about N15.5 billion has been intercepted at the nation’s airports this year.

    The EFCC has filed 353 cases at various courts and recorded about 53 convictions so far, he added.

    Lamorde spoke at the 2012 International Anti-Corruption Day celebrations, with the theme “ACT….Help Detect Corruption Risks Today”, organised by the Inter – Agency Task Team (IATT).

    The IATT is an umbrella of anti –corruption agencies.

    Lamorde said the “amount represented physical cash, and not legitimate cash transfer through the financial institutions, taken out through the nation’s airports”.

    A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said N14billion being couriered outside the country was intercepted at the nation’s airports between January and August.

    He added that the operation of a Special Task Team, which is a joint patrol of the airport by EFCC operatives and Nigerian Customs officers, which began in September 2012, had yielded the arrest of illegal cash courier with over $9million.

    Lamorde gave the example of an individual, who was arrested for laundering money in cash to the tune of $7 million in brief case and flying out of the country through the airport.

    He traced the illegal transfer and corruption to greed, callousness and meanness of the people involved.

    The statement quoted Lamorde as saying: “Corruption is one of the reasons Nigeria has not been able to make progress, socially, politically and economically and we have all agreed that corruption cannot be sustained in Nigeria, all of us must come together to fight corruption.”

    The EFCC chairman said the funding of the anti-corruption agencies and their operating legislations should be reviewed.

    He explained that between January and December 2012, the Commission filed about 353 cases at various courts across the country and had recorded about 53 convictions so far.

    Lamorde said: “Criminal procedure rather than judiciary should be blamed for the problem of slow pace of trial of corruption cases.

    “Somebody cannot steal from you and expect that the law should protect him against you the victim of his crime. Something has to be done. I pray that the new leadership of the judiciary will be able to do something.”

    He called for a special court to take on corruption cases.

    He added: “Judges are either transferred or the witnesses dead. It is not fair on the anti-corruption agencies to say they are delaying cases.

    “Let cases not last forever. If you think there is no case, please discharge the person but where the person has a case to answer, the case should be concluded in good time.”

    The IATT Chairman, Mr. Ledum Mitee, identified some reasons why the fight against corruption is stagnant.

    Mitee listed the factors as weak anti-corruption institutions in terms of capacity; funding and coordination; failure of leadership at all levels to genuinely talk the talk and walk the walk and the need for a more concerted effort in ensuring synergy in the operations of Anti-Corruption Agencies.

    He described performance in the anti-corruption as poor.

    Mitee said: “However, we cannot continue on this path. We must steer the ship aright. With the establishment of the Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT), synergy is being built among the anti-corruption agencies; the era of individual turf is waning, giving room for possible joint investigations and prosecutions which in turn is expected to result in effective sanctions and prevention of corruption.”

    Mitee added that another way corruption could be collectively and systematically addressed “is by adopting a Holistic National Strategy to Combat Corruption. And I understand that the IATT has developed a draft National Strategy document. This document is most encouraging and should be given every push for adoption by the Federal Government.”

     

  • Trial of oil merchants: Court chides EFCC for failing to provide evidence

    Trial of oil merchants: Court chides EFCC for failing to provide evidence

    A Lagos High court, Ikeja has  chided the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) for failing to deliver a letter meant for the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS).

    As a result of this lapse, the EFCC could not tender the evidence it wanted to use against an oil  marketer, Mr Seun Ogunbambo and two others on the allegation that they fraudulently obtained money from the subsidy funds without supply its premium motor spirit.

    A witness of the EFCC, Mr. Abdul Rasheed Hammed Bawa,  had told the court presided by Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo during the resumed trial of Mr. Seun Ogunbambo and two others that the commission  was not able to dispatch letters meant for the NCS owing to the fact that its contact person was indisposed.

    He said that given the situation,  the commission would not be able to elicit the needed reaction which it could have utilised to support its claim of fuel subsidy fraud against the defendants.

    Asked by the trial judge why the commission had to wait for a particular individual to carry out its statutory responsibility, Bawa explained that there are more than 100 companies been investigated by the commission over allegation of involvement in subsidy fraud.

    “we have a contact person in the NCS who ensures that correspondents from the commission are well treated.

    “However, this person went on leave, became indisposed in the course of that leave and later had to attend an NCS annual conference in Katsina State.”

    Justice Onigbanjo however chided the agency for entrusting such an important assignment in the hand of a contact person especially in such a serious investigation between two institutions.

    “In all honesty, I don’t understand how the  indisposition of an officer will affect an official letter that was sent to an institution.

    “This is not a private or individual letter that will warrant correspondence between two persons but a big institution like the EFCC dealing with one particular officer in a big institution like the Nigerian Customs Service is what I don’t understand” Justice Onigbanjo added.

    Bawa, a Senior Detective Superintendent, was led in evidence by the EFCC counsel, Mr. Francis Usani in the alleged N976 million fuel subsidy scam levelled against Mr. Ogunbambo, Mr Theck Habila and an oil company, Fargo Petroleum and Gas Limited.

    Meanwhile, an attempt by the EFCC to tender  a letter allegedly written by Mr Femi Falana (SAN) to the chairman of commission as exhibit was  resisted by lead counsel to the defendants, Adebayo Adenipekun (SAN).

    Adenipekun  insisted that the said letter was not signed and as such cannot be admitted in evidence.

    Consequently, the counsel to the EFCC asked Francis Usani to withdrew the said letter.

    However, other letters written by Mr Dino Melaye Civil Society Groups and Other Stakeholders as well as Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke were tendered and accepted as exhibits despite opposition from the defence counsel.

    Further hearing in the suit has been adjourned till  January 22, 2013 for continuation of trial.

     

  • EFCC intercepts N14b in eight months

    EFCC intercepts N14b in eight months

    Between January and August this year, corruption took a new dimension in Nigeria as money laundered by cash hit N14billion.

    The Chairman of the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamourde, who made the disclosure on Monday, said during the period under review, an individual was caught laundering $7million out of the country with a briefcase.

    He attributed the development to outright greed.

    He spoke at the International Anti-Corruption Day celebration organized by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in partnership with other anti-corruption agencies in Abuja.

    Continuing, he pointed out that the commission has charged 40 persons to court for complicity in N42 billion Petroleum Subsidy frauds.

    The chairman noted that while the commission has 353 cases from which five persons have been arraigned in courts, it has also convicted 52 persons as other cases are at different stages of prosecution.

    Lamourde, however, said the delay in dispensation of justice may not be solely the fault of the judiciary but also due to the procedures for the administration of justice in the country.

    While calling for the establishment of special courts for trial of corruption related cases, he noted that the commission has seen the need to check its own personnel.

     

  • Diversion of containers: EFCC swoops on Lagos ports

    Diversion of containers: EFCC swoops on Lagos ports

    Senior officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will visit the Lagos ports today, to investigate the illegal clearance of about 35 containers that were being moved to a Bonded Terminal in the Badagry- Expressway axis, but were allegedly diverted to an unknown destination without the appropriate duty paid to the Federal Government by the importers and the clearing agent, The Nation has learnt.

    Sources said the Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde, directed his officers to investigate the matter after realising that the duty paid on the diverted 35 containers is over N2.5 billion.

    Sources said the Presidency became unhappy when it realised the involvement of some senior Customs officers from Tin Can Port and directed the EFCC officials to unravel their involvement.

    Sources said officials of the commission would also investigate other top officials of government agencies at the port and authenticate the freight forwarding firm that allegedly cleared the containers.

    “The government became worried when it was realised that some senior government officials were involved in the scam and that was why the EFCC has been drafted to the port to investigate the matter and other sundry issues to bring sanity to the port.

    “The Presidency is not happy that such quantum of goods could get out of the port without anybody accounting for them.

    “The issue becomes worrisome when certain individuals and agencies of government are deliberately thwarting the efforts of the Federal Government to sanitise the ports based on the high level of insecurity in the country. “If senior Customs officers can be involved in such shady deal, it means the government must be very vigilant so that some greedy individuals do not endanger the lives and property of the people,” the official said.

     

  • EFCC moves into ports Monday

    EFCC moves into ports Monday

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Friday said it will on Monday commence undercover operations at the nation’s ports as part of efforts aimed at sanitizing port operations.

    The Chairman of the commission, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, made the disclosure while receiving the Special Adviser to the President on Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Sylvester Monye, who paid him a courtesy visit at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

    A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren said the ports will be rid of bad eggs.

    The statement quoted Lamorde as saying: “I assure you that we all understand the importance of the Maritime industry in Nigeria and we will do everything possible to make sure that the work you are doing is successful.

    “In fact, we will start deploying our people to the Ports from Monday to make sure that people that are not needed are removed.”

    Earlier, Monye had informed the EFCC chairman that he had come to seek the commission’s assistance in tackling some of the challenges undermining the port reform efforts.

    He said certain individuals and agencies of government are deliberately thwarting the efforts of government at sanitizing the nation’s ports.

    Monye added: “We have situations where agencies of government deliberately mount obstacles for them to generate pecuniary benefits for themselves. The idea is that the more delay you have, the more likely people pay up.

    “The reason why we are bringing EFCC into the whole thing is that these agencies are part of the problem. Where you have agencies of government constituting themselves into bottlenecks, we need to remove these bottlenecks.”

    He further disclosed that the Port Reform Committee is poised to remove all obstacles in the way of efficient clearing process at the ports.

     

  • Atuche: Court rejects EFCC’s graphic evidence

    Atuche: Court rejects EFCC’s graphic evidence

    Lagos High Court, Ikeja yesterday rejected a graphic presentation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to support the oral evidence of its witness, Hamada Bello, in the trial of former Managing Director of Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank) Francis Atuche.

    Atuche, his wife, Elizabeth and the bank’s former Chief Financial Officer, Ugo Anyanwu, are standing trial for allegedly stealing N27.5 billion belonging to the bank.

    Ruling on the graphic presentation request, Justice Lateefa Okunnu held that the memory stick containing the document sought to be tendered as exhibit by the EFCC, did not comply with Section 84 of the Evidence Act.

    Justice Okunnu said the device could not stand as a primary document as it contained information copied from a computer.

    The device, she said, could not be classified as a primary document as the prosecution had intended to extract information from it.

    Justice Okunnu held that the memory stick must be certified to be admissible within the contemplation of Section 84 of the Act.

    Atuche’s counsel Anthony Idigbe (SAN) urged the court to reject the device because it was not part of the proof of evidence and did not comply with the provision of the Evidence Act.

    But EFCC’s counsel Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) urged the court to dismiss the objection.

    He argued that the device was a document in itself and therefore, a primary document.

    The defence, he argued, had a misconception of Section 84 of the Evidence Act.

    In his evidence, Bello said his team traced some loans granted to some companies during Atuche’s era to some banks.

    He listed the companies that benefited from the loans as Future View Ltd; Extra Oil; Tradject Oil; Resolution Trust Limited and Petrosan Oil and Gas Ltd.

    The witness, who described the over N10 billion loans as ‘hoax loans,’ said they came back to Bank PHB through some companies as the bank’s shares’ offer.

    According to him, the creation, movement, utilisation and return of the loans to the bank were a clear case of money laundering.

    Some of the companies through which the money came back to the bank include Clare Mount Asset Management Limited; Alfo Associates Limited; Gazil Yakubu Investment; Sentron Trading Ventures Resources Limited and Felimon Enterprises.

    The case was adjourned till January 14.

     

  • EFCC’s budget slashed by N11.7b

    EFCC’s budget slashed by N11.7b

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said its next year’s budget has been reduced by over N11.7 billion.

    Its Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, said the cut would affect personnel cost next year.

    The EFCC boss spoke yesterday at the agency’s defence session before the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes .

    Lamorde said the Commission had proposed N21,028,488,772 billion to fund its operations next year but the Budget Office approved N9,328,159,022 billion.

    This amount, according to him, is less than half of the commission’s request to meet capital, personnel and overhead expenditure items in 2013.

    He also told the committee members that the Federal Government did not release N25million appropriated for the purchase of arms and ammunition for the commission in this year’s budget.

    The committee queried the inconsistent releases by the Ministry of Finance to the anti-graft agency and members wondered why a such a huge deficit as high as a 15 per cent deficit in the 2012 releases to the commission barely four weeks to the end of the fiscal year.

     

  • EFCC re-arraigns two oil marketers

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday re-arraigned two oil marketers at a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, on an amended charge of alleged N976.6 million fuel subsidy fraud.

    Oluwaseun Ogunbambo and Habila Theck were re-arraigned with their company, Fargo Petroleum and Gas Limited, before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo.

    They are facing a 10-count charge of conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, forgery, uttering and use of forged documents.

    EFCC’s counsel Francis Usani told the court that the defendants allegedly conspired with Olugbenga Adesanya (still at large) to fraudulently obtain N976.6 million from the Federal Government’s fuel subsidy fund.

    Usani alleged that they obtained the money as payments for subsidy from the Petroleum Support Fund for the purported importation of 13.6 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

    The counsel said the PMS was purportedly purchased from Seatac Petroleum Limited and imported into Nigeria through MT Diplomat Ex MT Milleura.

    They were further alleged to have forged a bill of lading and other documents to facilitate the fraud.

    He said the offences contravened Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act of 2006.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty.

    Justice Onigbanjo ordered that they should continue to enjoy the bail granted them after their initial arraignment on July 30.

    He adjourned the matter till tomorrow.

     

  • Subsidy fraud: EFCC re-arraigns two oil marketers

    Subsidy fraud: EFCC re-arraigns two oil marketers

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday re-arraigned two oil marketers, Oluwaseun Ogunbambo and Habila Theck, on an amended charge of N976.6 million fuel subsidy theft.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the marketers were re-arraigned alongside their company, Fargo Petroleum and Gas Limited, before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of a Lagos High Court in Ikeja.

    The defendants are facing a 10-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, forgery, uttering and use of forged documents among others.

    EFCC counsel, Mr. Francis Usani, alleged that the defendants conspired with one Olugbegan Adesanya (still at large) to fraudulently obtain N976.6 million from the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    Usani alleged that the defendants obtained the money as subsidy payments from the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) for the purported importation of 13.6 million litres of Premium Motor Spirits (PMS).

    He said the PMS was purportedly purchased from one Seatac Petroleum Limited and imported into Nigeria through MT Diplomat Ex MT Milleura.

    Usani further alleged that the defendants had on October 14, in Lagos, forged a document entitled Certificate of Origin, Port of Loading Antwerp, Belgium, which was used to facilitate the fraud.

    Usani added that the defendants falsely claimed that the document was issued by Seatac Petroleum Limited.

    According to him, the offences contravened Sections 1, (sub-sections 1,2,3) and 8 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

    Usani also said the offences contravened Sections 363 and 364 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.

    The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

     

  • EFCC fails to arraign Babalakin

    EFCC fails to arraign Babalakin

    The much awaited arraignment of the Chairman, Bi-Courtney Limited, Chief Olawale Babalakin before a Lagos High Court, Ikeja failed to hold on Thursday owing to his ill health.

    Chief Babalakin was to have been arraigned for allegedly conspiring with the former governor of Delta State, James Ibori to transfer N4.7 billion out of the country.

    However, the 2nd defendant, Alex Okoh was in court.

    The court could not take his plea because the charges against him and two companies, Bi-Courtney Limited and Renix Nigeria Limited that were charge along with Chief Babalakin could not be read.

    Although there was so much anxiety over the arraignment, Chief Babalakin’s counsel, Mr. E.O. Sofunde told the court presided by Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo that his client suddenly took ill.

    “My Lord, I want to tender unreserved apology for the absence of the first defendant”, he said.

    Asked by Justice Onigbanjo for the reason for his absence, Sofunde told the court that his client took ill.

    He claimed to have addressed a letter dated November 26, through the registrar, intimating the court that his client took ill and that he enclosed a medical report issued by Dr. Charles Harmound, his medical practitioner.

    “I have been further informed that sometimes last night, because his condition deteriorated, he was rushed to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) where he is presently on admission.

    “So, in the circumstance, I am constrained to request for a short adjournment of proceedings”, he said.

    Although the prosecution led by Mr. Rotimi Jacobs did not oppose the request for adjournment, he however told the court that on receipt of a copy of the letter addressed to the court, he immediately contacted his client, the EFCC.

    Jacobs told the court that the EFCC expressed its dismay at the attitude of Chief Babalakin in view of assurances given by the senior counsel, Dr. Biodun Layonu(SAN) that he would be produced before the court.

    Jacobs said that his client were surprised about the fact that on November 26, the date on his medical report, Chief Babalakin was with the EFCC in Abuja.

    Jacobs said that it took the commission about one week before it could get the defendant who was allegedly evading arrest and was made to write a statement same day.

    “My Lord, they came with a SAN, Dr. Layonu. Because of the respect they had for the SAN, he was released to him and undertaken given that he would be brought to the EFCC on Wednesday or this morning (Thursday).