from the government of United Kingdom, (UK) on the corruption case,
involving former Petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Diezani, who is in UK is being prosecuted by the UK government on issues
of corruption, but Magu regrets that the matter has dragged on in the UK
for more than four years with no visible result and no end in sight.
Magu expressed this worry, today, Wednesday, July 24, 2019, when he
received the team of International Criminal Police Organization,
Interpol, at EFCC’s headquarters.
“There is the case of Diezani which has been going on for over four
years and the amount involved is about $2.4 billion and no kobo has been
recovered from overseas. Though we have recovered some of the proceeds
of the crime, we are still tracing others”, he said.
Magu, however, noted that the Commission’s relationship with Interpol
has made it easier to place suspects on red notice, adding that “though
we have not been able to arrest some of these fleeing people, it is good
that they know they are on red notice, as there are Nigerians like
Diezani whom we have applied for.”
He disclosed that getting Diezani, Dan Etete, (former petroleum
minister), Mohammed Adoke (former attorney general and minister of
justice), all of whom are overseas and facing fraud cases in Nigeria,
back to the country has been a problem. He therefore, urged their new
countries of residence to either prosecute them or hand them over to
Nigeria “since they are Nigerians.”
The EFCC boss assured Interpol of the Commission’s continued support
towards the strengthening of collaboration, particularly in information
sharing.
“We are willing to cooperate with Interpol at all times, if there is
anything other enforcement agencies cannot provide especially in
financial crime, the Interpol is sure to get result here in EFCC because
we specialize in financial crime, money laundering and terrorist
financing.
“We are thankful for Interpol residency in the EFCC i24/7. We are
delighted that the collaboration with Interpol is yielding results,
especially in the area of intelligence,” Magu stated.
He further thanked Interpol for capacity building it offers the staff of
the Commission, especially in the light of the upcoming programme in
Ghana.
Sebastian Bley, Interpol’s Coordinator on Anti-corruption, while
commending the efforts of the EFCC in the fight against corruption said:
“We are fostering our relationship with selected law enforcement
agencies in Nigeria because we are doing a set of activities which have
been fruitful. One area we will need to be stronger is the area of case
coordination support.
“What we do basically is capacity building, expert working group
meetings and regional training workshop. The next workshop is coming up
in August in Ghana and the EFCC will participate.”
Bley further informed the Commission that the Interpol was ready to
offer it support in all areas of its mandate. “Interpol can take care of
logistics; we can give support in terms of investigation and recovery of
funds. Interpol is the platform, the channel that allows law enforcement
agencies to gather together and exchange sensitive information among
themselves as a closed group.
“We thank the great collaboration we have with the EFCC and we are
looking forward to foster the relationship. The capacity building in
Ghana which the EFCC is contributing is a good step,” Bley said.
Other members of the Interpol delegation include, Umar Garba Baba
Commissioner of Police, CP Interpol; Ude Sunday, Deputy Commissioner of
Police, DCP; Ogundele Adewale, Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP and
Olude Ademola a Police Inspector