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Tag: IBRAHIM LAMORDE

  • EFCC not keeping low profile on corruption – Lamorde

    EFCC not keeping low profile on corruption – Lamorde

    The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, has said the commission was not keeping low profile on corruption.

    Lamorde spoke against the backdrop of recent criticism of the EFCC at a workshop organized for journalists in Enugu.

    He said the commission noted some of the criticism against it, but that it was not true that it was keeping low profile on corruption as all cases are given equal attention.

    The EFCC chief urged the media not to relent in its support for anti-corruption agencies in the war against graft, noting that the current situation where media interest in corruption cases fizzles after arraignment is unhealthy.

    He said the commission undertook capacity-building workshops in the six geo-political zones of the country to enlist the support of the media in the fight against corruption and consolidate on the existing relation between the media and other agencies saddled with the responsibility of combating corruption and other financial crimes.

    Lamorde, who was represented by the Director of Public Affairs, Osita Nwaja, described the media as a critical stakeholder in the fight against corruption, stating that “the anti-graft war cannot be won without the support of the media.”

    According to him the EFCC rely on the media to help carry the message of anti-corruption to Nigerians and mobilize them to buy into the anti-corruption campaign as the anti-graft agencies alone cannot win the fight against corruption in the country.

     

  • EFCC seeks assistance in battling graft

    EFCC seeks assistance in battling graft

    Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Lamorde has sought the assistance the media in the battle against corruption in the country.

    He said the commission needs the media to expose graft and draw attention to challenges to the anti-corruption campaign in Nigeria.

    Lamorde spoke in Kano yesterday, while addressing journalists in the Northwest zone at a workshop on ‘Reporting Economic and Financial Crimes’, organised by the agency.

    The EFCC chairman, who was represented by the Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Osita Nwajah, said the commission got 117 convictions on various financial crimes in 2013.

    He said “as a commission, we have stepped up financial intelligence and tracking of illicit transactions across the borders.

    “The policing of major entry and exit points in the last two years recorded the seizure of large amounts of money, at the three major airports in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt. Some suspects have been prosecuted and convicted,” he said.

    Lamorde also said the commission is pursuing cases of alleged corruption in the justice delivery process, adding that “EFCC has decided to help sanitise the system by investigating some alleged cases of graft. Some cases are ongoing, although one of them has sued the commission in a bid to forestall further action.”

     

    But he assured that the commission would prosecute culprits in the judiciary and in other sectors, such as pension.

    In his paper, Kano State Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information Alhaji Mohammed Danyaro said the media no longer reports objectively, adding that this should be the core value of the profession.

    He noted that the media should promote unity in diversity.

    Danyaro  said: “The issue of control of the media has become part of the struggle for the control of power, hence it is worrisome that a large assessment of media content suggests that the media now leads a sharp deviation from the projection of national interest and integration. Nigerian media emphasises North/South division; everything is about region, religion or sensationalism rather than promoting oneness”.

     

     

     

  • Corruption has crippled local govt system, says Lamorde

    Corruption has crippled local govt system, says Lamorde

    •Lists payment to political godfathers, four other factors

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)chair  Ibrahim Lamorde, said yesterday that corruption has rendered the Local Government System redundant.
    He listed five factors that have crippled the system including payment to political godfathers.
    Lamorde spoke  in an address at the EFCC Academy in Abuja at the opening of a training session on “Anti-Corruption, Fiscal Responsibility and Effective Leadership for Principal Officers of all Local Government Councils (LGCS) in Nigeria.”
    The session was a collaboration of both the EFCC and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).
    Lamorde said: “The problem of corruption and lack of fiscal transparency perhaps remains one of the hydra-headed factors that accounts for the inefficiency and retarded growth the local governments continue to experience in Nigeria today.
    “The system has virtually become superfluous and redundant. Based on evidence which the EFCC, through its numerous investigations has gathered, corruption in local governments in the country thrives in the following areas: (i.) Inflation of prices; (ii) Over-estimation of cost of projects; (iii) The ghost workers syndrome; (iv) Award of contracts and subsequent abandonment; and (v) Outright payment of huge sums of money to political godfathers, etc.
    “Corrupt practices in the local governments have over the years rendered the local governments inactive and devoid of concrete developmental activities. Evidence available to the Commission also shows that economic crimes such as embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, abound in the local governments.”
    The EFCC chairman said although the 1999 Constitution allocates 20.6 per cent of the federal revenue to the local governments, the 774 local government have failed the nation.
    He said local governments in Nigeria are “riddled with both institutional and systemic problems.”
    He added: “As the closest tier of government to the grassroots, local governments are created all over the world to bring development to the local communities. They are therefore expected to develop the local economy so that jobs can be created and some form of small scale industries can also grow in the process.
    “Developing the rural communities also implies forging and strengthening social ties and developing the non-profit sector.
    “The functions of maintaining law and order, ensuring basic sanitation in the rural areas, constructing and maintaining local roads, supplying water, administering local schools, providing skill training and employment for residents amongst others also fall within the residuary powers and constitutional responsibilities of the local governments.
    “Pursuant to this and in order to ensure that local governments have adequate funding for their programs, the 1999 Constitution allocates 20.6%. of the federal revenue to the local governments while 52.68% and 26.72% were allocated to the federal and state governments respectively.
    “However, while Local Governments are said to be the best institutions that can facilitate the efficient and effective service delivery at the grassroots level, the fact remains that local governments in Nigeria are riddled with both institutional and systemic problems.  He said the EFCC was happy to collaborate with ALGON to enlighten and train its officials on what you need to know to avoid corrupt practices so that they do not get into trouble with the law.

  • Jonathan’s anti-graft fight is weak, says Tambuwal

    Jonathan’s anti-graft fight is weak, says Tambuwal

    ICPC chief rejects foreign account for public officers

    EFCC not after President’s enemies, says Lamorde

    House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal condemned yesterday President Goodluck Jonathan’s attitude to the anti-corruption battle.

    He faulted the President’s handling of the N255million bullet proof cars scandal, the pension scam and the “rot” in the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC).

    Tambuwal said the President’s body language was promoting corruption, adding that the administration has not addressed high-profile corruption cases exposed by the legislature.

    Tambuwal was responding to questions after presenting a paper at a one-day roundtable to mark the International Anti-corruption Day by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja.

    He spoke on the “Role of the legislature as the vanguard for anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria”.

    Tambuwal said: “Take the subsidy probe, the pension, the SEC probe and recently the bullet proof car cases. After the House of Representatives did a diligent job by probing and exposing the cases, you now see something else when it comes to prosecution.

    “In some cases, you have the government setting up new committees to duplicate the job already done by the parliament. Take the bullet proof cars case; the NSA, with all the security challenges confronting the country, should not be burdened with a job that can best be handled by the anti-corruption agencies.

    “The government has no business setting up any administrative committee in a case that is clear to all Nigerians. What the President should have done was to explicitly direct the EFCC to probe the matter. With such directives coming from the President, I am sure we still have good people in EFCC who can do a good job.

    “By setting up different committees for straightforward cases, the President’s body language doesn’t tend to support the fight against corruption.”

    Earlier in his paper, Tambuwal identified corruption as the bane of Nigeria’s development.

    He said: “For us in Nigeria, the reality that no greater challenge than corruption confronts us as a people is not in controversy. Indeed, if the roots of the overwhelming majority of our woes were traced, they are sure to terminate at the doorsteps of corruption.

    “This is a commonplace fact known to all Nigerians and requiring no corroboration. Yet, for the avoidance of doubt, it is important to state that in its 2012 Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by the global corruption watchdog, Transparency International ranks Nigeria as the 36th most corrupt country globally! Nigeria placed 139th of the 176 countries assessed, scoring 27% in contrast with the least corrupt countries; Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, which scored 90%.

    “A survey of the social media showed that 98% of Nigerians who commented not only agreed with the country’s corruption ranking but, in fact, felt Transparency International was too generous to Nigeria.

    “A few of the comments read: ‘We don’t need a report to tell us what we already know”, another ‘Wow, I taught (sic) we were No.1. I wonder what country (sic) is before us. We all need prayers and serious fasting for our nation”. The other “to be fair, I always thought Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world”, yet another, “Me too… 35th is actually being nice”.

    “A list of manifestation of corruption, especially in the public sector of Nigeria, is legion, ranging from direct diversion of public funds to private pockets, contract over-pricing, bribery, impunity, nepotism, general financial recklessness, fraudulent borrowing and debt management, public assets stripping, electoral fraud, shielding of corrupt public officers; among others.

    “It is a well established fact that corruption thrives well in any environment or society where there is community indifference or lack of enforcement policies. Societies with a culture of ritualised gift, giving where the line between acceptable and non-acceptable gifts is often hard to draw. Societies in which values have been overthrown by materialism, societies in which laws are observed more in the breach.

    “It would appear that these environmental preconditions are all prevalent in the Nigerian society and no wonder, therefore, that corruption has found fertile soil to blossom.”

    Tambuwal said the legislature had done its best to enact laws to fight corruption.

    He said if the laws had been strictly applied, Nigeria would have gone a long way in reducing corruption.

    He, however, confirmed moves by the National Assembly to make the anti-corruption agencies independent.

    He said: “In the exercise of this mandate, the National Assembly has enacted the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2002 and The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission Act 2000′ for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting public officers and other persons suspected of involvement in corrupt practices.

    “In both legislations, the Commissions are given extensive powers of investigation and prosecution to deal with all cases of corrupt practices and abuse of office that may arise.

    With respect to the specific objective of injecting transparency and accountability in the management of the resources of the nation, the National Assembly enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the Public Procurement Act 2007. Both legislations make copious provisions aimed at engendering transparency and accountability in the public space.

    “I make bold to say that if the provisions of these legislations and indeed others were diligently enforced, significant milestones would have been accomplished in the fight against corruption and corrupt practices in Nigeria. Sadly, however, these Legislations are observed more in the breach by the majority, including government and government agencies.

    “I am pleased to report that the House of Representatives is currently working on some proposals for the reform of these laws, with a view to reinforcing the independence of the agencies administering these laws including their mode of constitution and disbandment. I wish, therefore, to call on members of the NBA and indeed all Nigerians to prepare to buy into these reforms by making their inputs now or when the time comes for public hearings.

    Tambuwal condemned undue secrecy surrounding government activities.

    He pleaded with Nigerians to take advantage of the Freedom of Information Act to check secrecy in government.

    He added: “One other area, which has been of great concern, is the culture of undue secrecy that surrounds the operation of government. Whereas our Constitution enjoins in its Section 14 (2) (c) that ‘the participation of the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution” government business tended to be run like secret societies to the exclusion of the citizenry.

    “It was clear that this tended and was indeed intended to aid the concealment of corruption, such that even in times of suspicion, members of the public, including gentlemen of the fourth realm, could not access public information.

    “The National Assembly has passed the Freedom of Information Act 2011 to enhance the right of access to public records and information about public institutions. This is one Legislation that attracted massive public interest and it is my expectation that Nigerians will make maximum use of the right created under this legislation in order to defeat the culture of undue secrecy in the running of government business.”

    The Speaker took time to justify the oversight functions of the National Assembly.

    He said: “The other function of the legislature is oversight of the other arms of government. Section 88 mandates the National Assembly to investigate the conduct of affairs of any person, authority, ministry or government department charged or intended to be charged with the duty of or responsibility for( i) Executing or administering laws enacted by the National Assembly or ( ii) Disbursing or administering moneys appropriated or to be appropriated by the National Assembly.

    “The main object of investigation according to sub section 2 (a) and (b) of Section 88 is for law reform and to expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws or administration or disbursement of public funds. Similar provision is made in Section 128 of the constitution for legislatures at the sub-national levels.

    “Another critical role of the Legislature is the provision of adequate funding for Anti Corruption Agencies through appropriation. Unfortunately, efforts to exercise this function by the legislature is often misconstrued by the executive arm and even some members of the public. Yet without adequate funding, the anti-corruption agencies can not execute their functions satisfactorily. I wish to call on the other arms of government and indeed the general public to corroborate with us in the exercise of this mandate.

    “It is in exercise of this mandate that the House of Representatives and indeed the National Assembly has been carrying out oversight of government agencies and series of investigations or probes over allegations of corruption and corrupt practices. As you are all aware, the legislature has over the years exposed several cases of corruption.

    “It is important for me to stress once again at this stage that the mandate of the legislature is to expose corruption. It does not have further mandate to prosecute. That mandate of prosecution lies with the Executive and Judiciary. I have heard public comments to the effect that the public is tired of investigation by the legislature since the people indicted in their findings are never prosecuted and sanctioned.

    “Let me reiterate that the Legislature will not abdicate its responsibilities on the account of inaction or negligence of another arm of government. If nothing else we will at least continue to name and shame. As noted earlier, the war against corruption is the responsibility of all and I call on the citizens of this great nation to rise in the exercise of their constitutional power to insist on the prosecution and sanctioning of persons indicted by the Legislature or by any agency whether public or private concerned in the fight against corruption.

    “In the exercise of the mandate of oversight the legislature is able to audit both pre and post expenditure of agencies of government and to give appropriate direction on the administration and disbursement of funds and execution of programs and projects under the Appropriation Act. Indeed the Public Accounts Committee of both the House and Senate has the specific mandate to review the disbursement and administration of public funds by ministries, Departments and Agencies.

    “As representatives of the people, Legislators will continue to be for all Nigerians their eyes to see, ears to hear and mouth to speak out against corruption anywhere and at anytime it rears its ugly head.

    “The task may appear daunting but I wish to assure that wit will, zeal, passion and determination, we shall eventually overcome this hydra-headed dragon. Only let us be single minded that it’s a task that must be done in order to preserve the country for posterity.

    The Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau(CCB), Mr. Sam Saba, rejected moves to legalise operation of foreign account by public officers.

    He said such a policy would encourage money laundering.

    His words: “Legalising the operation of foreign account for public officers will further encourage money laundering. In some African countries, refusal to accept asset declaration form attracts three years jail term. But in Nigeria, the fine is only about N5,000.

    “ And sometimes, a governor can even pay for his aides. We need a stricter law, if we are serious about fighting corruption.”

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Kayode Oladele, said the agency was not going after those with differences against the President.

    Lamorde said: “It is not true that EFCC go after those who are against the president. Presently, we are investigating some Permanent Secretaries and judges over corruption allegations.

    “Some have even said the governor of Jigawa’s sons are being prosecuted because their father is part of the G-7 governors. They fail to ask if his sons actually committed the offence.”

    “These are some of the issues we should face and not accuse the commission of investigating only those who are against the President.

    “We have so many challenges as a commission because of our criminal justice system. We need very strong policies to fight corruption. Lawyers should see the fight against corruption as a challenge to all.”

  • 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.

  • EFCC and other stories

    EFCC and other stories

    Tracking news and reporting or investigating them in Nigeria is fast becoming a cumbersome affair in a country where scandals unfold in unimaginable proportion every passing moment of the day. Once there is a news break, before you settle down to look carefully at the issues involved, another news break comes in to unsettle you. With the frequency and rapidity of news breaks in the country, the media world is facing a deluge of news items. The screaming headlines in our daily newspapers attest to this fact, as journalists engage in a rat race to undo one another in news coverage.

    Last Monday, a good number of senior journalists attended a one-day workshop on reporting financial crimes. The event took place in Abuja under the auspices of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Ibrahim Lamorde, the humble chairman of the EFCC, was on hand to declare the workshop open. So also were some of his henchmen-Osita Nwaja, deputy director, public affairs, and Wilson Uwujaren, acting head of media affairs unit, as well as many other operatives of the commission. Almost all the nation’s media houses -newspapers, magazines, radio, TV – were represented at the event.

    Papers were presented by eminent journalists in core areas of ethics, news reporting and investigations. Thereafter, the floor was thrown open for participants to ask questions. A number of issues bordering on free flow of information between the commission and news hunters were raised. While the journalists believed they were not getting enough, the commission explained that, in some cases, news is deliberately held back so as not to jeopardize their investigations. According to the commission, once the news gets to the public domain, those who could be targets of arrests easily go underground, while witnesses also get scared and may be unwilling to volunteer information to the agency.

    The decision of the commission to host the workshop underscores the importance which it attaches to the role of the media in the fight against corruption and economic crimes in the country. Just as Lamorde puts it, “Without a doubt, the media is a critical stakeholder in the anti-graft war. With your pen, you could make or (break) the fight against economic crimes and corruption … We need the media to help sensitize the people to the ills of corruption and economic crimes”.

    The chairman of the EFCC then used the occasion to correct the “notion that the commission is selective in investigating persons suspected of committing economic crimes; that only those who have fallen out of favour with the powers that be are touched by the commission; that the commission has gone to sleep” and all that. The chairman then went on to say that “even in the midst of contrary evidence, a section of the press has been so swayed by this stereotype that they are unwilling to shift their gaze”. “This”, according to him, “is sad”. “Corruption “, he said, “threatens all sectors, including the media. I expect the media to lend its investigative skills to helping the EFCC fight corruption and not allow itself to be sucked in by the corrupt and become a pawn in their hands to undermine the commission”.

    The take-home from the workshop is the fact that the media should exercise its constitutional mandate as the fourth estate of the realm with the highest sense of modesty and responsibility. All the speakers at the parley seemed to have agreed that to make meaningful impact on the anti-graft war in the country, the media must be very cautious in their coverage of economic crimes matters and ensure they verify their facts before publication.

    A number of publications on the war against corruption were freely given out by the EFCC at the workshop. One of them was a bulky magazine titled Zero Tolerance. Two days after the workshop, some of the contents of the magazine went viral in the media. As usual, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was widely quoted as throwing jabs at his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar, and the immediate past EFCC chairman, Farida Waziri. These have elicited serious controversy and debate in the polity. With both Atiku and Waziri up in arms against Obasanjo, the public is, once more, being treated to another season of accusations and counter-accusations, all bordering on corruption by major actors in our nation’s political history. As it is, the last may not have been heard in the last few years about what transpired in the corridors of power in the war on corruption and official sleaze.

    On the political turf itself, all is not well with our politicians, especially among the ranks of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. A splinter group among the PDP, with about seven governors as arrowheads, now known as the New PDP or NPDP, is doing all that is possible to assert themselves in the political space. It is now a war between the old and the new PDP as the struggle for power in 2015 assumes a frightening dimension. In the meantime, all efforts by the NPDP to open offices in Abuja and the states have met with stiff resistance with the old PDP using the police as veritable weapons against its perceived opponents. Offices have been barricaded by the police in Abuja and Port Harcourt. The climax was the prevention of Chibuike Amaechi and his guests from accessing the Government House in Port Harcourt last Thursday.

    In the meantime, Bamanga Tukur, the chairman of the old PDP, has continued to spit fire by referring to the members of the splinter group as rascals. Tukur is at the epicentre of the ongoing controversy over his style of leadership of the party since he took over as chairman. Perhaps, it is not inappropriate to refer to the splinter group as rascals because what Nigeria needs now is the emergence of some rascals in the polity. This is to invigorate the process of governance in the country.

    The political temperature in the country was further heightened in Warri, Delta State as the Itsekiri people gave their monarch, the Olu of Warri, an ultimatum to vacate the throne. This was predicated on the recent proclamation of the monarch renouncing the Ogiame title and other traditional rites being practised by the Itsekiri nation. The renunciation sparked off several protests with the indigenes barricading the palace of the monarch for several days. Not even the timely interventions of Emmanuel Uduaghan, the state governor, could sway the people. After four days of protest, the monarch capitulated, and rescinded his earlier decision to renounce the title. That is the triumph of people’s power and an indication that the people can no longer be trampled upon. This is a signal for people who are holding positions of authority either at the community, local government, state or national level to understand that they are doing so on behalf of the people and not vice-versa. Sovereignty belongs to the people and these powers must be exercised in conformity with the wishes of the people. Not to terrorise them or impoverish them.

    Last Thursday, Mike Ozekhome, Senior Advocate of Nigeria who had been in kidnappers’ den for about 20 days, was set free. But this was not without paying a ransom, the value of which has not been properly laid in the public domain. It is indeed a sad commentary in our national life that a flourishing kidnap industry has taken over everywhere with people’s lives being endangered every day. Not only this. Millions of hard-earned money is also involved in the thriving and criminally lucrative business. It is sad that the country’s security agencies have not found an enduring solution to this epidemic, which is why many people tend to accuse some of them of connivance.

    However, the week ended on a sadder note as Olusegun Agagu, former governor of Ondo State, died in Lagos last Friday night. May the Lord grant Olufunke, his wife of many years, his children, family, his colony of friends and admirers the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss. His sudden death, once more, underscores the transience of life. May he find solace in the bosom of His creator. Amen.

  • EFCC alone cannot fight corruption, says Lamorde

    The Chairman,  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde has said that the commission cannot wage the anti-crime war alone.

    He stated this on his arrival from a two kilometer walk through some streets of Abuja , which was organized by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for other para-military organizations such as the Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSDC), Nigerian Prisons Service and others.

    He explained that the road walk was designed for public and private sector workers in direct response to the mandate of the commission to prevent economic crimes such as corruption.

    His words: “The  Programme which we are flagging-off this morning is especially design for employees of  public and private institutions. The essence is to take the anti-graft campaign to workplace, and encourage workers to have a buy-in, as the EFCC alone cannot fight and win the war against corruption in Nigeria.”

    According to him, the sensitization Programme has come a long way as similar campaigns have been extended to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Ministry of Transport and other agencies.

    Speaking, the Comptroller-General of the NCS, Dikko Inde Abdullahi, noted that the event kicked off series of workshops to educate the service officers and men on the need for transparency and integrity in the discharge of their duties.

    He said in the campaign, NCS has found the EFCC a worthy partner to cooperate with in order to spread the message that together the two organization are united against corruption.

     

  • Why investigation in banking is impeded, by EFCC chair

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chair Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde yesterday said some unethical practices in banking are undermining the economy and the commission’s investigations.

    He said it was time to flush out those who do not have business being in the banking sector.

    Lamorde spoke when officials of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), who were led by the Institute’s President and chairman of council, Mr. Segun Aina, visited him at work.

    Lamorde listed such unethical practices, which he said have negatively impacted on Nigeria ’s record in the fight against economic and financial crimes, as “secrecy surrounding private banking, doctoring or non disclosure of true position of statement of accounts of suspicious account holders and non-compliance with the Know-Your-Customer, (KYC) principle.

    He described as unfortunate, a situation where banks fail to disclose the identities of some people under investigation by the Commission.

    A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, quoted Lamorde as saying: “If you send letter to the bank to avail you the details of such account, the reply you will get is that such account does not exist.

    “If you insist, then you will be told that such records are not on the front desk, that it is only the managing director or the deputy managing director that manages the account, this is not a healthy banking development”, he declared.

    “It is in our own interest that the banking system continues to get better. Those who don’t have business being in the banking industry should go”, he said.

    “We want our society to be better. Nobody would want to be treated in an unfair manner outside the shores of this country just because he/she is carrying a green passport”, he said.

    Lamorde said the commission appreciates the need for the banks to protect their customers, but he warned that such should not be at the detriment of the society.

    The anti-graft boss however praised the leadership of the CIBN Institute of Bankers of Nigeria for their role in helping to sanitise the banking sector culminating in appreciable increase in professionalism among its members.

    He, however urged them not to rest on their oars.

    The CIBN boss, Aina, hailed the EFCC chairman for the professional manner with which the EFCC under his leadership handles matters.
    He however said the institute believes that the Commission can do better.

    He said although the visit was aimed at discussing areas of collaboration with the EFCC, he said the Commission’s training Institute, the EFCC Academy, will provide a veritable platform for the exchange of knowledge between the CIBN and the EFCC.

    “We can train staff of the EFCC to be acquainted with new trends of banking and to better understand the workings of the banks which will help in the course of investigation of bank fraud”.

    The CIBN president also urged the EFCC to take a second look at the enforcement of the Dishonour Cheque Offences Act.

    He added: “The law is there, but people issue cheques and the cheques get bounced and nothing happens. We want to collaborate with the EFCC to ensure that the law is enforced.”

    On the secrecy associated with private banking, Mr. Aina said private banking is an arrangement where the banks gives special services to some customers who are not expected to join the queue in the banking hall, but pointed out that such accounts should not be shrouded in secrecy.

    “There is no reason why the account of such customers should be made secretive and not be made available to the EFCC upon request,” he said.

    Other executives that accompanied Mr. Aina on the visit were Mrs. Debola Osibogun, 1st Vice President; Deacon Segun Ajibola, second Vice President; Mr. Uche Olowu, National Treasurer; Dr. Uju Ogubunka, Registrar; Mr. Ben Igbokwe, Head, Corporate Affairs and Mrs. Rukayat Yusuf, Assistant Director.