EFCC Declares war on corrupt Govt Officials

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, has  said that the Commission will embark on investigation of cases of some politicians who are alleged to have  looted the public treasury with a view to ridding the country of corruption. Lamorde stated this on Monday, in his office, while receiving a team of investigators from  the Metropolitan Police led by Jonathan Benton.

According to Lamorde, “A lot is going on. We have embarked on investigations, which involves some sitting governors,  ex-governors, serving ministers, ex-ministers, some former heads of Service of the Federation and some members of the National Assembly.”

The EFCC boss assured that the Commission would spare no effort towards bringing looters of public treasury to justice. “Any public officer who decides to dip his or her hand in  the government coffers to steal, even if such money is taken outside the country, has no hiding place. There are machinery to trace and recover the money and then bring the culprits to justice,”

Lamorde,  also used the opportunity of the visit to review the activities of his agency over the years, said the UK  Anti-corruption Asset Recovery Task Force Unit had been of tremendous support to EFCC in fighting economic and financial crimes in the country. He lauded the Metropolitan Police support over the cases of former governor of Bayelsa Stae, DSP Alamiyeseigha, Joshua Dariye and James Ibori who, according to him, is currently serving a jail term in the United Kingdom.

He disclosed that efforts were ongoing to confiscate the assets of James Ibori in the UK, adding that “In a few months, there is also going to be a confiscation proceeding in respect of the assets of James Ibori in United Kingdom which, of course, we have been working assiduously to make sure that it will be successful  when the case comes up.”

Speaking earlier, the leader of the delegation, Jonathan Benton, Head, Proceeds of International Corruption Unit, said they were in the Commission to further discuss ways on how to tackle corruption head-on in Nigeria.Benton, who said the fight against graft could only be won through collaborative efforts of all stakeholders,  promised to further strengthen the existing relationship with EFCC in the area of investigations  of  cases . “It is important that we play our part in fighting corruption. Therefore , we are very privileged to have this long-standing relationship with EFCC. On our part, we shall continue to partner  EFCC with investigation of its cases in Nigeria. He commended the agency for the feats so far recorded in the fight against corruption in Nigeria, while charging the Commission not to rest on its oars.