TheCable

Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation, has accused Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of misusing intelligence to the detriment of the anti-graft war.

Sahilu Othman, special adviser on media to the minister, who said this in an opinion article on Wednesday,  wrote against the background of Nigeria’s suspension by the Egmont Group.

The group, which comprises 156 financial intelligence units of 156 countries, is a body for the exchange financial intelligence to fight money laundering and terrorism financing.

In July, it suspended Nigeria owing to the interference of the EFCC in the activities of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit.

A few days after the suspension, the senate passed the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit bill to make the unit independent of the EFCC.

In the article, Othman said the leadership of the EFCC “manipulated and misused intelligence to the detriment of the fight against corruption and financial crimes in Nigeria”.

He added that to make the global financial intelligence body lift the ban on Nigeria, the government has set up the presidential adhoc committee to reposition the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.

TheCable had reported that the AGF was headed for a showdown with Magu for allegedly breaching prosecution rules.

But the EFCC denied that there was a face-off between its leadership and the AGF.