IN a bid to ensure transparency
and drive home the commission’s stance against corruption, the Acting Chairman
of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has
ordered strict surveillance on the activities of operatives of the
anti-corruption commission.
Magu’s order followed several
complaints received from members of the public, over the manner in which
the operatives handle some cases, while some of them exhibit corrupt tendencies
while handling cases.
In view of these complaints,
according to a very reliable source in the commission, Magu has ordered general
reviews of cases decided upon during the tenure of the immediate past chairman
of the commission, Ibrahim Lamorde.
In this regard, a team of
reviewers, headed by a serving police officer, not attached to the commission,
had been set up
“The acting chairman is not
pleased with complaints from members of the public on the way operatives are
handling some cases EFCC is investigating.
“This explains why Magu ordered
a review of some cases investigated under the immediate past chairman of the
commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, with a view to ensuring that justice is done to
people who felt they were badly treated by the commission,” the reliable source
told the Sunday Tribune.
The source added that Magu had
warned that operatives found wanting in the course of discharging their duties
would not only be sent packing from the anti-graft commission but also made to
face the wrath of the law of the land.
The Sunday Tribune learnt that
two operatives who were indicted by the Director-General of the National
Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who was investigated by
EFCC following petition by PenCom staff that she was paying herself N600,000
monthly as salary, have been dismissed by the commission.
The operatives, it was learnt,
were allegedly on the payroll of the PenCom Director-General in order to give
her a soft landing in case of any eventualities but they failed to alert her
before the bubble burst.
Anohu-Amazu, it was gathered,
explained the role played by the operatives and were said to have been
investigated and found wanting, which led to their dismissal from the
commission.
It was further gathered that
the commission is currently investigating a fraud case involving some
operatives in order to know those involved in the case of a seized house, which
was not listed as an exhibit in the record of the commission.
According to the Sunday Tribune
source, the house of a staff member of Police Pension Service (name withheld)
located at Gwarimpa in the Federation Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The source informed that the
police pension staffer was roped into the recent N24billion pension scam at the
police service for his refusal to cooperate in a dubious way with operatives
investigating the case.
“This particular person,
according to investigation, had acquired all his property before joining the
service of the police pension because he was involved in agriculture and other
businesses. But because he refused to cooperate in a dubious way with
operatives investigating the case he was roped into the case.
“His problem started on
investigators’ discovery that he sold a car at N8.5million to his boss. But
because he had refused to ‘cooperate’ with operatives, he was alleged to have
been involved in the police pension scam,” the source informed.
It was further revealed that
the Gwarimpa house seized from the man was rented out but proceeds from the
rent were going into private pockets for the past two years.
“The occupant of that house is
supposed to be EFCC’s tenant but there is no record to show for this at the
commission,” the source stated, adding that there was no record at the
anti-corruption commission to show that the house is under seizure,” our source
stated adding that the investigation on this particular case was to discover
the operatives involved in it so as to sanction them.
When contacted, EFCC’s Head,
Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, however, told Sunday Tribune that
he did not know anything about the review of cases under Lamorde
tribune
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