The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has disclosed that the sum of over N430 billion in different currencies was recovered by the agency from January through August this year from those who looted the treasury. 

Acting Chairman of the anti-corruption agency, Ibrahim Magu gave the details of the monies recovered in his Public Lecture delivered at the 20th Anniversary celebrations of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria(FICAN) held at Top Rank Hotel Galaxy in Abuja.

Mr. Magu who was represented at the occasion by the Head of Public Interface of the EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade said between January and August 30, 2017, the EFCC recovered N409,270,706,686.75; $69,501,156.67; 231,118.69 Pounds; 610,816.20 Euros; Dirham 443,400.00 and 70,500.00 Saudi Riyal, in addition to a total of 137 convictions within the period under review.

He said the monies were illegally siphoned and which, undoubtedly would have gone a long way to improve the living conditions of Nigerians, adding that the recovered sum is kept in the Recovery Fund Account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“To put it bluntly, the single major problem militating against our national development is corruption, Most crimes against humanity are perpetrated using proceeds of corruption, monies obtained through illegal activities, illicit cash flows and money laundering”, he said.

He noted that corruption is no doubt at the heart of why a media house will owe its teeming staff members their salaries, despite their toil day and night to ensure that the publication does not miss the light of day, adding that even corruption is also the reason why our roads have become death traps, apart from the fact that our hospitals have remained in deplorable states and Nigeria has become a leading African country “exporting” medical personnel to developed countries.

Earlier in his address at the occasion, the chairman of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria(FICAN) Abuja, Mr. Simeon Ogoegbulem gave a brief history of FICAN and how it was established in the second quarter of 1997 following the order of late Gen Sani Abacha to all ministries, departments and agencies to relocate to Abuja.

He said that the order led to the relocation of all regulatory agencies in the finance sector of the economy, including the central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Insurance Commission among others.

He however called for the support of partner organization to build its befitting secretariat as it has been operating from the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria in the last twenty years, adding that the support was imperative to achieve the objective.

Highlights of the occasion was the award ceremony which saw twenty three corporate and individual recipients carting away awards of different categories, including the Publisher of Economic Confidential and PRNigeria, Alhaji Yushau Shuaib  and Isaac Okorafor, Acting Director of Corporate Communications of the CBN who were honored by FICAN with the “Life Time Achievement Award in the field of Corporate Communications”.

Source: www.ayola.tv

Malami, in a statement issued in Abuja, alleged that Magu and the EFCC leadership have “manipulated and misused intelligence to the detriment of the fight against corruption and financial crimes in Nigeria.”

He also accused them of working to prevent the lifting of the country’s suspension by the global financial intelligence gathering body – Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units (Egmont Group) and ensure the country’s formal expulsion.

The Egmont Group, currently made up of 156 Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), representing 156 countries, serves as a platform for exchange of expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and functions as the operational arm of the international anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) apparatus.

Nigeria, represented in the group by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), was suspended on June 1, 2007 because the NFIU lacks independence and was subject to the control of the EFCC via the provision of the Section 1(2)(c) of the EFCC Act.

The group demanded autonomy for NFIU as a condition for the country’s readmission, failing which it would be expelled.

Since the nation’s suspension, Malami and Magu have been unable to agree on how to meet the condition set by the Egmont Group for the country’s readmission.

While the AGF wants the creation of an autonomous NFIU, detached from the EFCC, and has send a Bill to the National Assembly to that effect, Magu wants NFIU to remain part of EFCC, but with mere re-organisation of its operations.

In the statement issued for the AGF by his spokesman, Comrade Salihu Othman Isah, Malami frowned at Magu’s hard stance on the issue and noted that the uncooperative attitude of EFCC’s leadership could encourage the Egmont Group to carry out its threat to expel the country.

Malami regretted that Magu appeared not to understand the implication of Nigeria’s expulsion from the group on government’s efforts to combat corruption, terrorism, money laundering and other related vices.

The AGF, who insisted on ensuring the separation of NFIU from the EFCC, praised the Senate for passing the Bill for an independent NFIU and urged the House of Representatives to urgently pass similar Bill currently pending before it.

The statement reads: “The EFCC is now in a state of paranoia, as it dreads the effort of the government to have an independent NFIU, which it has stood against stoically since 2006.

“As it presently stands, the NFIU staff are all deployed by the EFCC to serve in the interest of whoever is its current Chairman. This has to stop if it must conform to the new thinking and global best practice. Nigeria cannot be an island of its own. It cannot fight corruption in isolation.

“The threat of expulsion from the Egmont Group calls for a thorough review of the NFIU and the manner in which the EFCC leadership has manipulated and misused intelligence to the detriment of the fight against corruption and financial crime in Nigeria.

“To achieve the desired goal, NFIU needs to stand alone as an agency with full complements of power to recruit its staff and an annual budgetary allocation guaranteed for its operations.

“Its independence must be ascertained in the new law to set up Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency (NFIA) to enable it carry out its mandate, which shall include responsibilities for receiving, requesting, analysing and disseminating financial intelligence reports on money laundering, terrorist financing and other relevant information to law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies, and other relevant authorities.”

Twitter: @naijapoliticko

Source; thenationonlineng