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EFCC Advocates Unconditional Repatriation Of Stolen Funds
… Makes Case For Special Courts
Newsdiaryonline Sat May 28,2011
Chairman of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mrs Farida Waziri has
called for an unconditional repatriation of over $148 billion
annually stolen from African countries and hid in safe havens in
developed economies.
Waziri who made the call
while presenting the Nigeria paper at the just concluded Ist
Commonwealth Regional Conference for Heads of Anti-Corruption
Agencies in Africa, Gaborone, Botswana also challenged her
colleagues from other African nations to go beyond bemoaning the
slow pace of corruption cases in courts to definite demand for
the establishment of special courts that will prosecute only
graft cases.
She said until this is
done, anti-graft agencies on the continent will continue to
complain about the slow pace of trial in corruption cases. She
said though Nigeria is yet to have special
courts, the crusade for its creation which she started in 2008
has continued to win more support and advocates across the
country.
The EFCC boss said
despite the constraints of slow judicial process, the support
and independence given the anti-graft agency by the federal
government especially President Goodluck Jonathan has made it to
cover a lot of grounds within a space of eight years.
According to her, “if
without special courts we can secure over 600 convictions within
this short time, you can imagine what we will do if we are to
have dedicated judges or courts to hear only corruption cases.
Today, our record of recovery is in excess of $11 billion. But
beyond this, we have seized through both summary and interim
forfeiture orders 459 units of real estate, 593 units of
vehicles/ oil vessels, 404 units of bank accounts and 183,627
units of other assets within the same period even though we are
yet to start operating a non-conviction based assets forfeiture
regime which we desire. What it means is that, with special
courts and assets forfeiture law, the war against graft would
have been taken to a different level.”
While setting the stage
for her call on developed countries that have provided safe
havens for looted funds to return them unconditionally, Waziri
said the idea of holding on to stolen funds even after they have
been traced and established as ill-gotten provides a distortion
in global macroeconomic indices.
“Our experience with
certain countries has not been palatable. Consistently some
countries have not been too cooperative in retrieval of stolen
funds and it will appear that peculiar national interest guides
cooperation with us. We must understand that the ill effects of
corruption does not only affect the origin of the illicit funds
but also the receiving countries in the sense that in both
locations, funds that have no bearing on productive ventures
has either left the economy or has been injected into it.
Consequently, there is a major distortion in macroeconomic
indices and this should not be accepted. Countries must work
better together.
According to the UN, around $148 billion is annually stolen from
Africa by the political leaders, the business elite and civil
servants with the collusion and connivance of banking industries
in Europe and other developed
economies. This is staggering!” she told the gathering.
For African nations to win the war against
corruption and overcome its developmental challenges, she said
certain steps must be taken.
In her words: “There is the urgent need for
this forum to demand with one voice the immediate repatriation
of hundreds of billions of dollars looted from Africa and kept
in safe havens in developed economies across the world. Beyond
this, there should be a demand on these developed nations to
relax the rules and conditions that are making repatriation of
stolen funds back to their points of origin appear near
impossible. This should also be coupled with a regime of hard
rules that will make these jurisdictions unsafe for looted or
tainted funds.
“There is also the need for legislations such
as Non-Conviction-Based Assets Forfeiture law that will strip
the corrupt assets acquired through the proceeds of fraud. This
will not only deny them the benefits of fraud but will equally
remove the incentive for looting.
Of equal significance to the success of the
war against corruption in Africa
is the creation of special courts that will hear strictly only
graft cases. This will not only remove some of the
technicalities being explored by defence counsel in graft cases
to delay and/or frustrate trial but will also fast track the
process of adjudication in corruption cases.
“It is only when all these are done in
addition to other measures that will be suggested in this
conference that African nations can comfortably attain
developmental goals .”
Others who spoke at the
conference which held between May23 and 26 include
Botswana
president, Lt.Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, Messrs Roger
Koranteng and Max Everest-Phillips of Commonwealth Secretariat,
Phil Mason of DFID as well as heads of anti-graft agencies from
about 16 commonwealth African countries.
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