The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), on Thursday rejected a bill seeking amnesty for treasury looters.
He described the bill as “impertinent and scandalous,” saying promoters of such bills deserve punishment.
The Economic Amnesty Bill was introduced and read for the first time on June 14 in the House of Representatives and is said to await a second reading.
The sponsor, Linus Okorie (Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi State), said the bill “seeks to allow all Nigerians and residents who have any money or assets outside the system or have acquired such money or assets illegally (looted or any variant of the cliche) to come forward, within a set time frame, to declare same, pay tax/surcharge and compulsorily invest the funds in any sector of the Nigerian economy; and be granted full amnesty from inquiry or prosecution.”
Sagay, in a statement, said the Bill, if passed into law, would have “grave implications,” adding that it was a sign that brazen impunity no longer has any significance in Nigeria.
“That a Nigerian legislator can have the effrontery to promote a Bill which, if enacted into law, will enable looters of our treasury and national patrimony to keep the loot, if only they can acknowledge it as looted, provided they undertake to spend it in Nigeria, is breath-taking,” Sagay said.
To the eminent professor of law, Okorie was encouraging free plundering of state funds without consequences, which he said amounts to the “legitimation of treasury plundering.”
Sagay said the anti-corruption war would be doomed if the Bill becomes law, adding that the idea was “shocking to the senses.”
He added: “Inspite of the steep decline in the sense of morality and values in Nigeria in the last 16 years, particularly since this Eight Session of the National Assembly was inaugurated, Okorie’s blatant and brazen advocacy of free looting is nevertheless still shocking to the senses.
“Soon, armed robbers, kidnappers, extortionists, 419ners, thieves, money launderers, embezzlers, etc, will line up before the Attorney-General with applications compelling him to grant them amnesty and never ever again to question the source, the real amount or any other information on looted funds.
“I think people who come up with such shocking assaults on our common morality and sense of decency deserve a sharp rebuke coupled with sanctions. Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution provides that ‘the State shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power.
“Should a legislator, a ranking public officer, be seen committing a breach of the Constitution, which at the same time constitutes assault on our sensibilities with relish?
“I can only recall one instance in which such boldness and brazen impunity was demonstrated, albeit, in the pleadings before a law court, rather than a Bill before a legislative house, as in this case.
“Now, what shall we do with Linus Okorie? I propose that the House of Representatives should regard Okorie’s Bill to be so impertinent and scandalous as to earn him a suspension from the House, for the rest of the Eight Session, i.e., until July 2019.
“That should serve notice that Nigeria will no longer tolerate such brazen impunity and corruption or its promotion thereof.”
