• Lamorde have no case to answer

By Lukman Olabiyi, Abuja

THE acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has rubbished the notion that President Muhammadu Buhari was using the commission to witch-hunt his perceived enemy and muzzling opposi­tion.

He said the agency was not only apoliti­cal, but was nobody’s puppet that could be used to achieve selfish interest.

Magu spoke in Lagos at the 2016 lecture and award ceremony of the National Asso­ciation of Judiciary Correspondents (NA­JUC). The theme of the lecture was: ‘The judiciary, media, anti-graft agencies and the fight against corruption.”

According to Magu, who was repre­sented by Sammin Amadin, handling of corruption-related cases have always been a contentious issue.

“There are those perceiving the agency in different light. This perception issue can be itemised thus: perception of in­competence or shoddy investigations, perception of witch-hunt or selectivity of corruption suspects, perception of com­promise, perception of non-independence and perception of poor funding,” he said.

Magu said those flaying the commission over shoddy investigations were always pointing fingers at loss of cases in court but forget that the agency has high level of convictions, which was a result of diligent investigation and prosecution.

He added that the perception of witch-hunt, persecution of suspects or selective investigation and prosecution of corrup­tion suspects has taken the form of a leop­ard’s spot which critics would not believe any effort of the agency contrary to their belief.

“This is a perception matter because there is no single suspect of the agency that has come to the public space with claims of innocence of any kind.

“We are approaching our duties with the highest sense of responsibility and patriotism, with the ultimate aim of con­fronting the perpetrators of corruption, economic and financial crimes whoever and whever they may be, bring them to justice and confiscate all their ill-gotten wealth,” he said.

Responding to a question concerning shielding of ex-chairman of the commis­sion, Ibrahim Lamorde, Magu disclosed that Lamorde have no case to answer for the fact that there was no report or peti­tion before the commission indicting him of any corrupt practice.