The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reacted to an explosive tape suggesting Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami controls the agency.
In the trending audio, Mohammed Idris, a lawyer and police officer, attached to the EFCC, made serious claims regarding the influence of Malami.
The operative stated that the AGF, who supervises the commission head by Abdulrasheed Bawa, compromised cases of corruption.
In one of recordings published by Daily Nigerian, Idris is heard discussing with Abdulbari Yusuf, a brother of retired Rear Admiral, Tahir Yusuf, facing trial.
The one-time Director of Navy Accounts and his company, Aston, had their accounts frozen by the EFC at the early stage of investigations.
Idris advised Yusuf how to win the case at the Court of Appeal and also extract money from an account.
“If he has money in any account linked with his BVN (Bank Verification Number), he should quickly evacuate them. If he makes transfers, EFCC will still trace it. He should only withdraw and then deposit into another account,” he said.
Earlier, Yusuf declared Malami was in charge of the anti-graft body, and had ordered the unfreezing of “big accounts”.
“Malami now controls the EFCC. The commission is in his hands. Once Malami speaks, the account will be unfrozen. They are unfreezing suspects’ accounts, including the big cases,” he revealed.
In a release Thursday night, EFCC Head of Media, Wilson Uwujaren, announced the start of investigation of the tape.
He stated that the commission will activate its internal mechanism to deal with the issues arising therefrom.
The spokesman said the EFCC does not condone acts of corruption and abuse of privilege for financial gratification by personnel.
“Without prejudice to the outcome of the investigation, snippets of the audio recording clearly showed an abysmally compromised “officer” dropping names to ingratiate his benefactor, a relative of a crime suspect.
“By the alleged action, the said officer is no more than a corrupt fifth columnist with scant regard for the values of the Commission.
“The action is contemptuous of the established Standard Operating Procedure of the EFCC. Such professional indiscretion has no place in the new EFCC.
“The Commission encourages citizens who encounter any such unprofessional conduct by personnel of the EFCC to report to the Commission in support of our quest to build a better Agency.
“Reporting such conducts has been made easy by the Eagle Eye App, a financial crimes reporting application which was launched earlier in the year.
“We encourage members of the public to download the App from the Apple and Google Play Store and put it to use”, the statement added.
