…agency’s sec office scrapped, replaced with admin director.
A
new bill seeking to amend the Economic and Financial Crimes Act has
weakened the Office of the Chairman of the EFCC and created a new
position known as the Director-General of the EFCC, Sunday PUNCH has
learnt.
The bill, which was obtained by this newspaper, is
titled, ‘An Act to Repeal the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(Establishment) Act, 2004 (act no. 1 of 2004) and Enact the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission Act Which Establishes a More Effective and
Efficient Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to Conduct Enquiries
and Investigate All Economic and Financial Crimes and Related Offences
and for other Related Matters.’
The bill, it was learnt, is being
put together by the Attorney General, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on behalf
of the Federal Government for onward transmission to the National
Assembly.
The proposed law was initiated barely weeks after the
suspended acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu, accused Malami
of frustrating the anti-corruption war of the President, Major General
Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
According to the proposed law, the
director-general will be appointed by the President based on the
recommendation of the AGF and subject to confirmation by the Senate.
The director-general, and not the chairman, will be in charge of the running of the daily affairs of the commission.
Section
8 of the bill reads in part, “There shall be for the commission, a
director-general who shall be appointed by the President on the
recommendation of the Attorney General subject to the confirmation by
the Senate.
“Subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this
section, the Director-General shall be a retired or serving member of
any government institution, including any security or law enforcement
agency not below the rank of a director or its equivalent or a person
from the private sector.
“A person shall not be appointed as a
director-general unless he is of proven integrity and has 15 years
cognate experience in security, forensic or financial crimes
investigation; forensic accounting or auditing; or law practice or
enforcement relating to economic and financial crimes or
anti-corruption.”
The director-general, according to the proposed
law, shall hold office for a period of four years subject to
reappointment by the President for a further term of four years and no
more.
The bill states that the chairman of the EFCC shall be the head of the EFCC board.
Other
members of the board shall include the director-general, a
representative of the Federal Ministry of Justice, a representative of
the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Director of Nigerian Financial
Intelligence Unit, two other Nigerians with 15 years cognate experience
in legal, finance, banking or forensic auditing and the Director of
Administration who shall be the secretary of the board.
The
proposed law states that the chairman and members of the management
board shall be appointed by the President, on the recommendation of the
Attorney General subject to confirmation by the Senate; and for a period
of four years in the first instance, renewable for another period of
four years and no more.
The EFCC board headed by the chairman
will be in charge of establishing policy guidelines for the commission;
review and approve the strategic plans of the commission; oversee the
due performance of the functions of the commission in accordance with
the provisions of this Act; and do such other things which in its
opinion are necessary to ensure the efficient and effective performance
of the functions of the Commission under this Act.
Sunday PUNCH
observed that the Secretary of the EFCC, which is a creation of Section 8
of the existing EFCC Act is not mentioned in the new bill, indicating
that the position has been scrapped.
The current EFCC Secretary,
Ola Olukoyede, who has also been suspended by Buhari pending
investigation, is in charge of the secretariat of the commission and is
responsible for the administration of the secretariat and the keeping of
the books and records of the commission.
The proposed law not
only restates the power of the AGF to discontinue the prosecution of
criminal cases as guaranteed in Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution, it
empowers the AGF to cancel the prosecutorial power of the EFCC when he
sees fit. Section 45 of the new bill states that the AGF may, after
notifying the EFCC, intervene in court proceedings, at first instance or
on appeal, where, in the opinion of the AGF, public interest, the
interest of justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal process so
demand.
It further reads, “On receipt of the notice under
subsection (2) of this section, the commission shall hand over to the
Attorney-General the prosecution file and all documents relating to the
prosecution and provide him with such other information as he may
require on the matter within the time specified by him.
The
commission shall furnish returns of all cases handled by it annually and
in such manner and at such intervals as the Attorney-General shall
direct.
“Where the commission fails to comply with the provisions
of this section, the Attorney General may, subject to prevailing
circumstances, revoke the power to prosecute from the commission.”
Efforts
to get a reaction from the AGF’s office on Saturday proved abortive as
his spokesman, Umar Gwandu, did not answer telephone calls.
However,
in a statement signed by Gwandu on August 25, 2020, the AGF said the
constitution already gave him enormous powers to supervise the EFCC and
other agencies regardless of the EFCC Act.
The statement titled,
“I don’t need more powers to supervise agencies’, read in part, “The
Attorney General of the Federation does not need the tinkering of the
current EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004 to enable him to regulate the
institution and could, therefore not, in any way, seek to sponsor any
bill for more powers to control the commission.
“It is trite to
say that by virtue of the extant laws of the land as well as rules and
legislation governing the conduct of the governmental operations, the
Attorney General of the Federation has indisputable statutory powers to
regulate the operations of the commissions without recourse to any
additional legislation.
Section 43 of the EFCC Act has made it
abundantly clear that ‘the Attorney General of the Federation may make
rules or regulations with respect to the exercise of any of the duties,
functions or powers of the Commission under this Act.”
The bill
states that the director-general shall be the chief executive of the
EFCC and be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the
commission; the execution and implementation of the policies of the
commission; the organisation, control and management of the affairs of
the commission.
Other responsibilities of the director-general
include the implementation of the commission’s functions, the direction,
supervision and control of the employees of the commission; the
maintenance of transparent accounting records in accordance with
applicable laws governing statutory bodies; and ensuring that the
commission is guided by the laws of Nigeria and international best
practices.
CACOL kicks against bill, demands autonomy for anti-graft agency
A
civil society organisation, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open
Leadership, has said that the proposed bill seeking to amend the
Economic and Financial Crimes Act was in bad taste for the commission,
adding that the anti-graft agency deserved to have more autonomy.
The
CACOL Executive Director, Debo Adeniran, in an interview on Saturday,
noted that putting the EFCC head under the AGF’s recommendation would
only make the commission dance to the tune of corrupt politicians and
reduce the effectiveness of the commission.
The director said,
“The AGF is a politician and a political appointee who may be tempted to
want to protect the interests of some of the politicians who are under
EFCC’s investigations.
“The National Assembly also may want to
reduce the powers of the commission because some of its members are
being probed by the anti-graft agency. Instead of passing this new bill,
the EFCC should be given more autonomy and made answerable to the
President or at least, the Vice-President.
“We demand that the
bill is dropped; it is unwarranted and it is against the spirit of
progressivism and anti-corruption efforts.”
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