Fred Itua, Abuja
The Presidential Committee On Audit Of Recovered Assets (PCARA) investigating the mismanagement and lack of transparency in managing recovered assets by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has rejected a written defence by the suspended acting chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ibrahim Magu.
This came as the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, directed the recall of some officers attached to the Commission. It was learnt that about 20 zonal and sectional heads were affected by the recall.
They have been asked to report to Force Headquarters, Abuja, from where they are expected to be given new assignments. The IG had ordered the withdrawal of policemen attached to Magu shortly after the probe into the EFCC began.
The Ayo Salami-led panel, Daily Sun, gathered, has insisted that Magu’s statement of defence will not be entertained until witnesses lined up to testify against him were accommodated.
“The panel has claimed that it would only accept the defence after all the witnesses have testified against Magu, saying it would thereafter confront Magu and accept the defence.”
The source said senior lawyers familiar with Magu’s handling of EFCC dealings were already testifying against him.
“The panel has invited people having issues with Magu. They include a former executive director with a first generation bank and two senior advocates of Nigeria.”
The source further revealed that the panel also invited an EFCC official who is under investigation over a huge amount in his account and for traveling to Lebanon to meet a suspect under an ongoing investigation. More people are expected to come after the Sallah break, the source said.
Details of a petition submitted to the investigative panel by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, alleged improper record keeping and discrepancies in the recovery figures.
“For instance, EFCC stated 836 as the number of Recovered Real Estate in the Original Returns it made to Mr. President on 07/04/2017. However, in its 1st Returns to PCARA on 13/12/2017, EFCC gave the figure of 339 while in the 2nd Returns to PCARA on 09/03/2018 it stated the recoveries to be 504. The 1st and 2nd Returns total 843,” part of the petition observed.
It further read: “More disturbing issues related to the mismanagement of recovered assets is the fact that the Acting Chairman protested against the efforts of the National Assembly to address the transparency of assets recovered from suspects through the enactment of the Proceeds of Crime Bill, 2019.
“The Acting Chairman has also neglected and refused blatantly to comply with the Regulations on the Management of Recovered Assets, 2019. These Regulations were issued in line with international best practices and to ensure that all the anti-corruption agencies report all their recovered assets in a database provided by the Federal Government.
“The Regulations were also issued in response to the findings of the Audit Committee (PCARA) that showed that the Acting Chairman was manipulating figures and was also not reporting the assets recovered nor is he managing the assets in a manner that will yield benefit to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”