The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, on Monday said that Nigerians should stop blaming the Commission over the long stalling of trials and non convictions of ex-governors and politicians indicted for corrupt practices.
Many of such cases are still in courts.
This was even as Lamorde denied that the EFCC was broke and that the financial situation was affecting the trial of cases in court.
The EFCC chairman, who spoke through his Chief of Staff, Kayode Oladele, at the EFCC’s workshop on Reporting Economic Crimes, held in Ikeja, Lagos State, said that Nigerians should be beam their light on the judiciary not on the commission.
He said there was little or nothing the commission could do once a case had been charged to court.
He explained that for an effective fight against corruption, Nigerians, especially members of the media, needed to have a talk with the judiciary and lawyers.
He said that it was only Nigeria that an accused person would not want speedy trial.
Lamorde kicked against the perpetual injunction given to former Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili, and Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah of Capital Oil.
His words: “Immediately the order was granted and permanent injunction was granted by the judge, we filed an appeal, because to us it was the most incredible order any judge could give, particularly in a public interest case that involves corruption and a high profile corruption.
“How will you, for goodness sake, grant a permanent injunction to a person being investigated or prosecuted by any
agency?
“I think it’s a way of making sure that somebody is protected from the law.
“We immediately filed an appeal five years ago and up till now, we have not been heard.
“This year alone, we’ve filed over 300 cases.
“Our mandate is so wide, but most of the time when people are talking, they are looking only at politically exposed persons.
“They believe that’s the only thing we’re doing.
“But we have a lot we are doing.
“In a year, we receive a minimum of 8,000 petitions.
“Some of them we handle, some of them we refer to other agencies that we feel are competent to handle them.
“Some are frivolous that we have to dispose.”
Fielding questions from journalists on the issue that EFCC was broke and that this was affecting cases in court, Lamorde said it was not true.
He added that cases charged to court by the EFCC, which were later struck out, should also not be blamed on the investigators.
He added: “It’s unfair to say that improper investigation is the bane of everything.
“In the first place, you don’t take people to court because you had adjudged them guilty.
“You take people to court because you feel there’s a minimum misconduct, at least a prima facia case.
“When the court feels that the person has no case, that person has to be discharged and acquitted if possible.
“And it’s not because the investigator did not do his investigation very well, but it’s because of, based on what had been said in the case, the person has no case to answer.”
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