The Attorney General of the Federation and Minsiter of Justice, Mallam
\nAbubakar Malami, has accused Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial
\nCrimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, of frustrating Federal
\nGovernment\u2019s anti-graft war.<\/p>\n
Malami specifically accused Magu of manipulating and misussing
\nintelligence in the All Pogressive Congress, APC, led Buhari’s
\nadminstration war against corruption<\/p>\n
He also accused Magu-led EFCC of working to prevent the lifting of the
\ncountry\u2019s suspension by the global financial intelligence gathering body,
\nEgmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, and ensuring the country\u2019s
\nformal expulsion.<\/p>\n
The Egmont Group, currently made up of 156 Financial Intelligence Units
\n(FIUs), representing 156 countries, serves as a platform for exchange of
\nexpertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering and
\nterrorist financing; and functions as the operational arm of the
\ninternational anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism
\n(AML\/CFT) apparatus.<\/p>\n
Nigeria, represented in the group by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence
\nUnit (NFIU), was suspended on June 1, 2017 because the NFIU lacked
\nindependence and was subject to the control of the EFCC via the provision
\nof the Section 1(2)(c) of the EFCC Act.<\/p>\n
The group demanded autonomy for NFIU as a condition for the country\u2019s
\nreadmission, failing which it would be expelled.<\/p>\n
Since the nation\u2019s suspension, Malami and Magu have been unable to agree
\non how to meet the condition set by the Egmont Group for the country\u2019s
\nre-admission.<\/p>\n
While the AGF wants the creation of an autonomous NFIU, detached from the
\nEFCC, and has send a Bill to the National Assembly to that effect, Magu
\nwants NFIU to remain part of EFCC, but with mere re-organisation of its
\noperations.<\/p>\n
In the statement issued on behalf of the AGF by his spokesman, Salihu
\nOthman Isah, Malami frowned at Magu\u2019s hard stance on the issue and noted
\nthat the uncooperative attitude of EFCC\u2019s leadership could encourage the
\nEgmont Group to carry out its threat to expel the country.<\/p>\n
Malami regretted that Magu appeared not to understand the implication of
\nNigeria\u2019s expulsion from the group on government\u2019s efforts to combat
\ncorruption, terrorism, money laundering and other related vices.<\/p>\n
The AGF, who insisted on ensuring the separation of NFIU from the EFCC,
\npraised the Senate for passing the Bill for an independent NFIU and urged
\nthe House of Representatives to urgently pass similar Bill currently
\npending before it.<\/p>\n
The statement reads: \u201cThe EFCC is now in a state of paranoia, as it dreads
\nthe effort of the government to have an independent NFIU, which it has
\nstood against stoically since 2006.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs it presently stands, the NFIU staff are all deployed by the EFCC to
\nserve in the interest of whoever is its current chairman. This has to stop
\nif it must conform to the new thinking and global best practice. Nigeria
\ncannot be an island of its own. It cannot fight corruption in isolation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe threat of expulsion from the Egmont Group calls for a thorough review
\nof the NFIU and the manner in which the EFCC leadership has manipulated
\nand misused intelligence to the detriment of the fight against corruption
\nand financial crime in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo achieve the desired goal, NFIU needs to stand alone as an agency with
\nfull complements of power to recruit its staff and an annual budgetary
\nallocation guaranteed for its operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts independence must be ascertained in the new law to set up Nigerian
\nFinancial Intelligence Agency (NFIA) to enable it carry out its mandate,
\nwhich shall include responsibilities for receiving, requesting, analysing
\nand disseminating financial intelligence reports on money laundering,
\nterrorist financing and other relevant information to law enforcement,
\nsecurity and intelligence agencies, and other relevant authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n