One week after the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), publicly accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and its Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, of frustrating the anti-graft war, the AGF has announced plans to create a central body that will coordinate all criminal prosecutions in the country.
Recall that Malami stated that Magu and the EFCC leadership have “manipulated and misused intelligence to the detriment of the fight against corruption and financial crimes in Nigeria.”
“The EFCC is now in a state of paranoia, as it dreads the effort of the government to have an independent NFIU, which it has stood against stoically since 2006.
“As it presently stands, the NFIU staff are all deployed by the EFCC to serve in the interest of whoever is its current Chairman. This has to stop if it must conform to the new thinking and global best practice. Nigeria cannot be an island of its own. It cannot fight corruption in isolation”, he said.
On Tuesday, Malami revealed the policy reforms that will give his office more powers over EFCC, while presenting the ministry’s report for 2016-2017 legal year.
The new body, to be inaugurated in October, will comprise a Coordinating Centre for all federal government criminal justice agencies as well as an investigation unit.
The minister said the coordinating centre has become “eminently necessary” because of lack of effective cooperation and collaboration among the criminal justice and security agencies in Nigeria.
The said the centre will “Promote and enhance quick and easy coordination of all federal criminal cases within the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
“Enable the Office of the HAGF to checkmate abuse and or proliferation of criminal cases in Nigeria;
“Facilitate centralization and easy access to information for a robust and effective criminal justice system in Nigeria;
“Address such anomalies that leads to consistent rejection of vital/relevant evidence in the course of prosecution;
*Whittle down of the probative value of such evidence owing to inappropriate investigation.”
The unit, he said, shall coordinate and form part of every investigation in Nigeria for a robust investigation and successful prosecution of such cases.
The core function/mandate of the Investigation Unit shall consist of the following:
“To advise every security agency carrying out investigation on the best lawful and admissible means of such investigation for effective prosecution thereafter;
“To actively form part of every sensitive and important investigation, as a synergy to successful investigation and prosecution of such cases;
“To ensure that every evidence obtained maintain the nature, value and form admissible in law court;
“To ensure that every investigation is comprehensibly and conclusively conducted;
Agencies that will come under the supervision of the coordinating centre include Department of State Services (DSS); Nigeria Police Force (NPF); the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC); the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Others are the National Agency for the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP); the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA); the Directorate Military Investigation (DMI); and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
Comments