N/Assembly already investigating matter –Lamorde
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, have provided insights into why they cannot for now probe the alleged missing $20bn oil funds.
While the ICPC explained that their constraints stem from lack of adequate resources and technical manpower to carry out the inquests, the EFCC raised the issue of procedural challenges.
Both commissions made their positions public yesterday when they appeared before the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes to defend their 2014 budget proposal at the National Assembly.
The Acting Chairman of the ICPC, Professor Olu Aina told the committee, chaired by Senator Victor Lar (Plateau South) that the commission might need outside help to be able to probe the accounts of the NNPC.
He said: “The account of NNPC is so sophisticated that it will require us hiring experts to look into the account for us, but unfortunately, we do not have the means to do that.”
On his part, the Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, explained that his commission could not dabble into the investigations because the Senate is currently inquiring into the matter.
According to him, it is only when the National Assembly completed its own investigation and hands off the matter that his commission can continue where the legislatures stopped.
He cited the case of the fuel subsidy probe, which was forwarded to his commission after the National Assembly, first concluded their investigations.
Lamorde said: “The issue about the NNPC is already being investigated by the National Assembly. For every investigation, once the National Assembly is on it, we have to wait until they conclude. The fuel subsidy investigation, which we charged so many people to court, where the son of the immediate past PDP national chairman is one of the people standing trial, we did not go into the matter until it was concluded by the National Assembly and forwarded to us.
“We can’t just jump into something that is still being investigated by the National Assembly. It’s not a mob kind of thing. There must be a sequence of events that would lead us to taking decision. Let the hearing of the National Assembly be concluded. Normally, when it is concluded, it is forwarded to us for investigation.”
The EFCC boss expressed concerns at the haste at which Nigerians expect the anti-graft agency to rush into public investigation of reported cases of corruption and urged that his commission should be given enough time to conduct extensive investigations on cases before prosecuting suspects.
He said, “I think people are in a hurry. What people want to hear is that just because there is an issue today, tomorrow you are shouting kill him, stone him…. We don’t do investigation by the media. When we are ready to charge the individual to court we would do so.
“But when the investigation is going on let the investigation be conclusive. Otherwise we will join into what everybody is saying. It’s like the market place where everybody is shouting at the same time.
“Law enforcement investigation is not like that. It’s supposed to be systematic and you work towards getting evidence to sustain your case if eventually you go to court.
“You can’t just go to court based on assumptions. We have gone very far with some of our investigations. Very soon when we are ready you will see us in court.”
Source: National Mirror
No comments:
Post a Comment