Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Ibrahim Magu vowed
yesterday that the agency would go after banks being used for the
looting of the nation’s treasury and money laundering.
He asked the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) to stop private banking in the country and pledged the
determination of his team to give corruption a brutal fight.
Magu was reported by the agency’s
in-house magazine, Alert, as telling Channels Television in an
interview that the era was gone when treasury looters kept their money
under the guise of private banking.
He said there was no more hiding place for banks to be used by corrupt public officials and fraudsters.
He said: “We are not only going after
the personnel of banks, we are also going after the banks. What happens
is that when a staff of the bank is involved in such activities, what
the bank does is to take the person out of the system through dismissal.
“But now, we are going to go after the
banks and the personnel used to perpetrate the fraud. It takes two to
tango. In fact, very soon, you will see us going after the managing
directors of the banks.
“We don’t care what happens because the
right thing has to be done because they have given a lot of room for
money laundering activities to thrive. They were used to hide all the
stolen money.”
On private banking, he said the EFCC has advised the CBN to stop it in all banks.
“We had a discussion with the Governor
of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and I insisted that
this so-called private banking should be stopped. It is illegal; it is
wrong.”
On repatriation of stolen funds, the
EFCC chairman said: “Of course, we are working with all the law
enforcement agencies- the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the
NCA, the Swiss Police and the Italians as well and many other people.
“There are requirements you must enter-
the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) – with other countries. We are
following the money and we will get them back very soon. But it has to
be done within the law.
“There are procedures and they are
really tedious. But there is an improvement because these countries are
willing to issue warrant; they are willing to restrain any account we
point out. They are willing to also release the property we have traced
to their countries. We are also helping them at this end.
“We are working with the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) and many countries are now ready to key in because they
realize that fighting corruption is a very serious issue.”
Magu, who admitted that corruption has been fighting back at him, said he would fight the monster to the end with his team.
“Corruption is fighting back and some of
the fighting back is coming from government officials. It is very
serious, but I have fought corruption and corruption fought back. I am
still fighting corruption.
“If it is my portion to lead the
corruption fight particularly under President Muhammadu Buhari. I am
fulfilled. We are ready to fight to the end. Somebody has to do it and I
am happy we are making tremendous progress.”
Responding to a question, he said there is no sacred cow in the fight against corruption.
He said corrupt suspects will be arrested and prosecuted irrespective of political parties they belong to.
He said: “There is no sacred cow as far
as this fight against corruption is concerned. We will go after anybody
who has committed an offence. We will collect the money back so that it
will go back to the treasury so that it can be used for the original
purposes.
“I don’t care whether you are black or
white or you come from Party A or Party B; the moment it can be
established that you have stolen from the public treasury, we will go
after you.
“Even right here (in EFCC), if we
discover that you are corrupt, we will kick you out. And we are already
doing that. So, we don’t go after innocent people. We are going after
the thieves of state resources.”
On his reaction to President Muhammadu
Buhari’s concurrence in London that Nigerians are fantastically corrupt,
Magu said: “I won’t go beyond the reactions of Mr. President.”
He however said that London is the capital of money laundering.
He added: “I think it was most
appropriate and you cannot shy away from being called corrupt because
corruption has gone deep. The President’s reaction is ‘whatever it is,
give me back what has been taken from us.’
“Of course, London is the capital of
money laundering. Most of the stolen monies are hidden there either by
way of property, banks or physical cash.
“I have an advantage of leading the EFCC
now because what you need most when you are fighting corruption is the
political will of the leadership.
“You will agree with me that Mr.
President is not pretending about fighting corruption. You can see that
it is in his blood. So, we are so lucky to have somebody who is
committed, who supports us, who does not interfere with what we are
doing and I mean that.
“It is good; you can see how we are moving. It is unprecedented.”
Regarding plea bargain, he said it is
not a bad idea depending on the cooperation of accused persons who have
stolen public funds.
He said: “I know plea bargain has a lot
of issues, but if it is handled properly, it is not bad. If you happen
to cooperate and you don’t give us too much problem and we sit down and
look at what has been recovered from you, we can agree to entertain plea
bargain.”
Magu insisted that the EFCC does not detain suspects illegally.
He said those who had met bail conditions were always allowed to go by the anti-graft commission.
“Nobody that has met the bail conditions
is kept in the cell. We don’t do that. Honestly, it does not happen
here. If we have any reason to keep somebody beyond the time allowed by
law, we go to the court and obtain a remand warrant.
“But sometimes, when you arrest the
suspect, on disclosure, you will get additional information from them.
For instance, somebody who has stolen state funds to the time of $88m,
you do not expect me to let him go like that.
“It is when you keep them that some of
them will oblige and return the money and it is very important for us to
get the money back.”
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