….Says there’re corrupt personnel in the agency
The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, has said that the agency recovered N434b between January and August 2017.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the commission’s acting chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu who also disclosed that the agency was not insulated from corruption as it had dismissed some of its officers found to have had integrity deficit said N409, 270, 706,686.75; $69, 501,156.67; £231,118.69; €610,816.20; 443,400.00 dirham and 70, 500 Saudi riyal were recovered during the period under review.
He said the sum total of all the cash if converted into naira amounts to N434, 745, 578,118. 39.
Magu also disclosed that the over N7.6 billion recovered from a former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke and the N329bn returned by some major oil marketers in the country formed the bulk of total recoveries.
He added that the EFCC recorded 137 convictions during the period.
On the corruption in the EFCC, Magu who used the occasion to deny that he and the attorney general and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), were working at cross purposes said: “The internal affairs department in the EFCC looks at issues of professional misconduct of operatives in the EFCC. Internal affairs investigate unethical conducts by our men and the internal affairs is in charge of screening prospective employees of the EFCC.
“Recently, we had to discharge about nine cadet officers because they told lies on their certificates. We are also prosecuting a lot of officers who are involved in crime. Some of them are already in court. But you can also help us by giving us information about corrupt officers because we do not condone corruption.”
He said it would be naïve for anyone to expect the fight against corruption to be smooth.
“You should expect resistance and opposition which are expressed in various guises. From what we read in the papers these days, it is either somebody is fighting Magu or Magu is fighting other people. I know that journalists want to sell their newspapers, but seriously speaking, instead of fighting ourselves, we should be united in fighting the common enemy, which is corruption.
“Personally, I am not after anybody and have no issues with anybody. Those who think they have issues with me will soon discover that I mean no harm. What drives me is the passion to do what is right by ensuring that we fight corruption to a standstill in this country.
“We do not pretend to have a monopoly of knowledge on how to win the war against corruption. The anti-corruption campaign requires a concerted effort. I enjoin members of the public, including the media, to be part of this effort by reporting cases of corruption to the EFCC,” he added.
WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTS FROM PUNCH AND PREMIUM TIMES
