TheCable

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has not dropped the probe and possible trial of Murtala Nyako, impeached former governor of Adamawa state, who is facing allegations of corrupt enrichment and abuse of office.

Restating its commitment to curtailing economic and financial crimes in Nigeria, the commission said the investigation of the former governor was ongoing and necessary steps would be take as soon as the probe is concluded.

Addressing journalists at an interactive session organised by the I-Nigeria Initiative in Abuja, Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC spokesman, said Ibrahim Lamorde, the commission’s chairman, had delivered on his promise to re-professionalise the anti-graft agency.

“One of the strategies that he promised to deploy in tackling the issue of integrity was the introduction of polygraph tests for officers and new employees,” he said.

“As we speak, the commission now has state-of-the-art polygraph equipment with a crop of polygraph examiners trained at the American International Institute of Polygraph in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.”

The EFCC spokesman added that the commission was tackling oil theft and had convicted at least 71 culprits.

“A few months ago, two Indians, Sailesh Kumor Singh and Chadrashekar Sharma, were jailed after successful prosecution by the commission,” he said.

The Indians, who bagged 15 years jail term, were part of 12 suspected oil thieves arrested in Brass, Bayelsa state in 2012 by the Joint Task Force with 157,822 litres of suspected stolen crude oil.

On the ongoing oil subsidy cases, Uwujaren said that Seun Ogunbambo, the managing director of Fargo Energy Limited who allegedly stole N4.5 billion in fake subsidy claims, had been declared wanted after he fled Nigeria.

One Azmat Mahmood, a German citizen of Pakistani descent and an international petroleum trader, has also been declared wanted after allegedly defrauding the federal government of over N1.3 billion through his company, Nimex Petroleum Limited.

Uwujaren further disclosed that the since the establishment of the commission in 2003, it had secured 100 convictions and recovered $11 billion in cases involving Advance Free Fraud (419), money laundering, contract scam and internet fraud.

“In the last 11 years we have been in operation, we have handled thousands of cases in these areas and I want to report that we have recorded over 100 convictions as a result of our investigations,” he said.

“In terms of assets recovery, we have recovered assets of well over $11 billion in 11 years and I think that is a record.”

He added that the commission had also created a new unit known as Combined Inter Agency Task Force section, which is responsible for “maximising the opportunities of international law enforcement partnership for the benefit of the commission and by extension, the nation.”