The Attorney General of the Federation and Minsiter of Justice, Mallam
Abubakar Malami, has accused Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, of frustrating Federal
Government’s anti-graft war.
Malami specifically accused Magu of manipulating and misussing
intelligence in the All Pogressive Congress, APC, led Buhari’s
adminstration war against corruption
He also accused Magu-led EFCC of working to prevent the lifting of the
country’s suspension by the global financial intelligence gathering body,
Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, and ensuring the country’s
formal expulsion.
The Egmont Group, currently made up of 156 Financial Intelligence Units
(FIUs), representing 156 countries, serves as a platform for exchange of
expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering and
terrorist financing; and functions as the operational arm of the
international anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism
(AML/CFT) apparatus.
Nigeria, represented in the group by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence
Unit (NFIU), was suspended on June 1, 2017 because the NFIU lacked
independence and was subject to the control of the EFCC via the provision
of the Section 1(2)(c) of the EFCC Act.
The group demanded autonomy for NFIU as a condition for the country’s
readmission, failing which it would be expelled.
Since the nation’s suspension, Malami and Magu have been unable to agree
on how to meet the condition set by the Egmont Group for the country’s
re-admission.
While the AGF wants the creation of an autonomous NFIU, detached from the
EFCC, and has send a Bill to the National Assembly to that effect, Magu
wants NFIU to remain part of EFCC, but with mere re-organisation of its
operations.
In the statement issued on behalf of the AGF by his spokesman, Salihu
Othman Isah, Malami frowned at Magu’s hard stance on the issue and noted
that the uncooperative attitude of EFCC’s leadership could encourage the
Egmont Group to carry out its threat to expel the country.
Malami regretted that Magu appeared not to understand the implication of
Nigeria’s expulsion from the group on government’s efforts to combat
corruption, terrorism, money laundering and other related vices.
The AGF, who insisted on ensuring the separation of NFIU from the EFCC,
praised the Senate for passing the Bill for an independent NFIU and urged
the House of Representatives to urgently pass similar Bill currently
pending before it.
The statement reads: “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.
“The threat of expulsion from the Egmont Group calls for a thorough review
of the NFIU and the manner in which the EFCC leadership has manipulated
and misused intelligence to the detriment of the fight against corruption
and financial crime in Nigeria.
“To achieve the desired goal, NFIU needs to stand alone as an agency with
full complements of power to recruit its staff and an annual budgetary
allocation guaranteed for its operations.
“Its independence must be ascertained in the new law to set up Nigerian
Financial Intelligence Agency (NFIA) to enable it carry out its mandate,
which shall include responsibilities for receiving, requesting, analysing
and disseminating financial intelligence reports on money laundering,
terrorist financing and other relevant information to law enforcement,
security and intelligence agencies, and other relevant authorities.”