The Economic and Financial Crime Commission,EFCC, has recovered a total of N409 billion and various foreign currencies so far in 2017.
Acting Chairman of the anti-graft commission,Ibrahim Magu, in his remarks on Wednesday, August 30, at a luncheon with media executive in Abuja, gave the breakdown the monetary recoveries by the Commission between January and August 30, 2017 to include: N409, 270, 706,686.75; $69, 501,156.67; Pounds 231,118.69; Euro 610,816.20; Dirham 443,400.00 and Saudi Riyal (SR)70, 500.00.
He said, it would be naïve for anyone to expect the fight against corruption to be smooth, saying, “you should expect resistance and opposition which are expressed in various guises.
“From what we read in the papers these days, it is either somebody is fighting Magu or Magu is fighting other people. I know that journalists want to sell their newspapers, but seriously speaking, instead of fighting ourselves, we should be united in fighting the common enemy, which is corruption. Personally, I am not after anybody and have no issues with anybody. Those who think they have issues with me will soon discover that I mean no harm. What drives me is the passion to do what is right by ensuring that we fight corruption to a standstill in this country.”
Magu said, regardless of the challenges faced by the EFCC, it was making progress.
“Many of you are aware of the achievements that we have recorded in the fight against corruption especially in the area of assets recovery. Two days ago, we got the court to forfeit to the Nigerian Government a sum of N7.6billion which was hidden in a Nigerian bank by former petroleum resources minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke,” he said.
“Two weeks earlier, another court issued a temporary forfeiture order to seize properties worth Twenty One Million, Three Hundred and Ninety Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Twenty Four Thousand Dollars ($21,392,224) belonging to the same former minister. Those properties are awaiting final forfeiture.
“Over a month ago, the Commission recovered over N329 billion from a group of oil marketers for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. These are major recoveries from a sector of the economy.”
In the area of prosecution of cases in court, he said , “we are also making progress despite the antics of some persons accused of grand corruption to delay trial. Between January and August this year, EFCC recorded 137 convictions. The potentials for improvement are good as more cases are brought to conclusion in the remaining four months of the year.
