Jude Chinedu, Enugu
The Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC) said it has convicted over 90 suspects for various financial crimes within the South East this year alone.
Head, Enugu zonal office of EFCC, Usman Imam, made this known during the 16th Anti- corruption Situation Room (ACSR) organised by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) in collaboration with McAthur Foundation in Enugu.
He said: “Between January and now, the EFCC, South East, has been able to, after arrest and investigation, secure conviction of over 90 persons for mostly cyber related crimes.
“Imo is the state where this is most prevalent in the South East. In the last raid we carried out in the state, we brought in about 31 out of which over 27 were convicted. It is disturbing and alarming.”
On some high profile cases being undertaken by the Commission in the South east, Imam said “the zone is investigating the immediate past government of Imo State and the case is making progress and in advanced stage.
“We don’t want to expose some of the things in the investigation. Earlier on, we targeted some assets for forfeiture and the process is ongoing. In no distant time, some of the highly placed public officers will make it in court.”
On his part, the Chairman of HEDA, Mr Olarewaju Surajo, said the event was about getting government intervention programmes to be of real benefit to the people for which they were designed.
He urged participants not to allow consistent diversion of those benefits and take the fight against corruption seriously.