Constitutional lawyer, Femi Falana, has revealed how foreign firms in the country stole hydrocarbons (crude oil and gas) worth $100 billion, in connivance with their home country.
Falana, who approached the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, with evidence detailing how the theft were executed, expressed hope in the ability of the anti-graft agency to prosecute firms involved.
In a statement he made available to journalists yesterday, caption “My Goodwill Message to the EFCC,” the Ekiti-born legal icon, said the commission would have taken the fight against corruption to a remarkable height in the nation, but for prominent personalities in the country who want the act to thrive, including “a former Attorney-General of the federation and an ex-Inspector-General of Police. While pretending to fight corruption under the rule of law, the vagabonds in power were able to suspend the trial of a few public officers who had criminally diverted over N2 trillion.”
According to him, when the EFCC took off in 2004, it was able to prevent criminal suspects from frustrating their prosecution. He decried that the commission’s posture against corruption was subsequently compromised by the corrupt cabals in the country. He furthered that, haven taken over the criminal justice system, the people made sure that once a big man or woman was admitted to bail, the defence counsel engaged in dilatory tactics to wear out the court and the prosecutors.
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However, Falana particularly lauded current strides of the EFCC, including recent pronouncements of the nation’s courts against corrupt persons, resulting in about 160 convictions won by the EFCC, which he described as a record feat. He charged the EFCC to join President Muhammadu Buhari to demand a return of the huge sums of money hidden in the vaults of banks and invested in real estates of western countries. Besides, Falana said the recovery of looted wealth, which he said the EFCC is fully dedicated, is a popular cause, and that it is supported by all citizens. But, he reminded that the “powerful” beneficiaries of corruption are fighting back in a ferocious way, and that they would not win the battle “because there is no hiding place for them any longer.”
The lawyer averred that to block the movement of stolen funds locally and internationally in the country, the federal high court had granted “Mareva injunctions and other preservative orders. “To aid investigation and prevent well-connected people from tampering with the investigation of serious cases magistrate courts have been granting detention orders of suspects. Both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, have rejected the clever designs of some accused persons to frustrate their prosecution at the trial courts,” Falana said.
He also challenged the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Of fences Commission, ICPC, and EFCC to team up with the judiciary and ensure that proper investigations are conducted on corruption cases, especially those involving persons who see themselves as sacred cows. Falana opined the ICPC, which he said, has over 400 cases pending in the various state high courts, should urgently review such cases with a view to charging the suspects with money laundering or other federal offences in the federal high court. With convictions already won by the EFCC, Falana noted that perception of the public is that the anti-graft agencies in the country are not succeeding “because the fat cats have remained largely untouchable. The picture has begun to change.
Just recently, a former commissioner in Adamawa state, local government officials in Kogi state and a former DG of NIMASA were convicted and jailed. With the religious application of the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 our criminal courts have sped up the trial of criminal exposed persons. “Those who have stolen the country dry and violated the human rights of the masses in the process will no longer be allowed to invoke the rule of law to hide their loot.
It is high time the EFCC paid attention to the looting of the commonwealth by foreign companies and governments. Admittedly, the members of the ruling class in Nigeria are ‘fantastically corrupt.’
