Why Most Corruption Cases Are Stalled – EFCC Chairman

The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde has thrown more light on why most cases under prosecution by the commission are stalled.

The chairman of the EFCC Ibrahim Lamorde

In the September edition of the EFCC Alert, an official magazine by the commission, Lamorde in an interview with the BBC said some high profile individuals hire better lawyers with good resources to stall cases in court.

“The high profile individuals have the resources to hire very good lawyers who of course come with all these arguments to delay the cases,” Lamorde said.

However, the chairman said a current improvement through a new law on administration of criminal justice has been passed.

The law, he said seeks to fast track adjudication processes in Nigeria which he believes will help push prosecutions by the commission.

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Lamorde added that as authorized by the commission’s Act, the duty of operatives of the anti-graft agency is to investigation corrupt persons and charge them to court.

He said: “We have had instances where individuals that have been charged to court since 2006, we are still in court because of interlocutory applications they have been making.”

Giving instances of cases delayed overtime, the chairman said several others under prosecution by the commission have lasted for years due to the judicial process in Nigeria.

“In a particular case, we went to supreme court twice on some of these applications and anyone who is familiar with the judicial system in Nigeria will tell you how hard it is to go from a high court to court of appeal to be heard and then judgment given; and then from there you proceed to supreme court, get listed and you are heard and judgment given. It takes not months but at times years,” he said.

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Lamorde debunked fears that the anti-graft agency is focused on witch hunting certain individuals.

He said: “When you say people want to see certain individuals being convicted, I think we are taking it away from the EFCC as an investigating body to the judiciary.”

He added that major corruption cases can last up to six years, Larmode said investigation into the case involving a former governor of Delta state James Ibori started in 2005 with some of the cases against Ibori still in court.

The chairman said the process of tracking stolen funds by some public office holders can be difficult.

He said: “Nobody keeps resources, funds or assets in their names within the jurisdiction where they commit such offences. Most times they move them out of their immediate jurisdiction.”

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President Muhammadu Buhari had warned all corrupt persons to return funds stolen from the coffers of the Nigerian government.

Buhari said his administration has received firm assurances of cooperation from the United States and other countries to help recover and return stolen funds to Nigeria.

The chairman called for continuous collaboration between law enforcement agencies of countries to improve fight against corruption.

He also called for a special court designated for corruption and other related cases.

“I think it will also give room for specialization, making them proficient in what they do; in a situation whereby a judge listens to a case of divorce and then the next case is armed robbery, the next one is rape, then they go into corruption, then he must have lost concentration because judges are human beings, no matter how good they are,” he added.

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