Bawa: EFCC Won’t Hand Over Cases Of Interest To Any State

*Says commission as a creation of N’Assembly supersedes
states’ establishments

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, has declared that the commission, under his
leadership, would not hand over cases of interest to any state
government. Bawa spoke against the backdrop of the setting up of
anti-corruption agencies by some states.

Lagos, Kano, and Bayelsa states have, recently, set up
anti-graft agencies. Some of the states envisage that the EFCC
would hand over corruption cases concerning their states to the
local anti-corruption commissions.

The EFCC chairman also denied asking the management teams of
banks to declare theirs assets to the commission. He insisted his
pronouncement was merely for purposes of eliciting information, as
the agency was not empowered to dish out such an order.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with THISDAY, the EFCC boss
stated that as a creation of the National Assembly, the federal
agency superseded any similar agency set up by the states.

He stated, “I am aware that Kano and Bayelsa have started their
own anti-corruption agencies. But those laws do not contain
anything that says that EFCC has nothing to do with investigating
their states, they would rather be complementing what the EFCC is
doing.

“There are a lot of Supreme Court decided cases on this
particular issue. From the briefing that I have received, those
things are already there. The EFCC is a creation of the National
Assembly, which, of course, supersedes, when it comes to that. So,
there’s already a federal legislation.

“We are yet to see how the EFCC is going to hand over cases that
they are interested in to any state government or see any
correspondence to that effect. We are investigating our matters. In
that regard, we are making progress.”
Bawa also expressed doubt over the capacity of states to handle
certain investigations in view of the capital-intensive nature.

According to him, “What I can say is that law enforcement is a
very, very expensive venture and requires a lot of training and
retraining, with trends of crime developing everyday, every second,
and you need to catch up with people doing that.

“Take, for instance, issues of money laundering, where, maybe,
somebody somewhere has laundered the proceeds of crime, let’s say
somewhere in Sokoto and you are in Oyo State or you have property,
a lot of things will come up.

“Maybe he has property in America, you need to carry out
request, involving mutual legal assistance treaty between, let’s
say, Nigeria and America, whether or not the American government
will recognise that.

“So, a lot of things left, right and centre are at play
regarding it. It is very, very expensive.

“Then, the issue of capacity. Yes, anybody can develop a
capacity to do that. But let’s wait and see.”

Addressing the alleged demand for declaration of assets by
bankers, Bawa said it was within the powers of the agency to make
such demands.

However, he said, “I did not say banks will come and declare
their assets to us. It is not within our powers to demand for that.
But it is within our powers to demand for information. You and
associate (s) without any hindrance or failure must give us
information on demand.

“If you are an individual or corporate entity or company, it is
an offence not to comply. That is why we write to individuals,
politicians to submit to us so that we will compare, because if you
are a suspect, before us, you are expected to even fill our own
declaration of assets form here.”

He explained further, “We write to CCB, for instance, to furnish
us what you declared. Yes, we write them to give us information on
what you declared so that we can make comparison.

“We have our reason for saying that come June 1st, we are going
to demand for the declaration of assets. That’s what I said. So, it
doesn’t matter whether you have not declared, it doesn’t matter
whether you have done anything, but what we said is that we are
going to demand for it.

“You understand this? This is in a 1986 law. It was passed when
I was just six years old. Yes, it’s an old law and they are
expected to declare their assets annually. So, what we said is that
we just need copies of those things, we have already demanded. On
June 1st, we wrote to all the banks, the MDS and DMDs should submit
copies of their declaration of asset form.

On accusations that the agency had engaged in media trial of
suspects, the EFCC chairman said the commission on his watch had
not only conducted diligent investigations but had also contributed
significantly to the development of law in Nigeria in the last 15
years.
Bawa stated, “Now, rightly or wrongly, the media, once matters are
in court, you have the right to go and get the facts – reporters
are always in court to report what has happened. So, you have been
accusing us wrongly of this.

“You did mention something that we do media trial, and then we
rush to court. There is no agency of government that has worked and
contributed to the development of law in this country in the last
15 years than the EFCC. Nobody has challenged me on that.

“We go to court. We love going to court. We have 90 per cent to
95 per cent success rate in court on the cases that we have
charged. So, it is not about stating the facts and losing cases.
Assuming we have 70 per cent success rate in court, is it not an A
that you will give us, but as you know, we have over 90 per cent
success rate in court.

“But, of course, we have changed our strategy in that regard as
well. And that is why maybe you are not seeing people under
investigation being mentioned in the media.

“But there was never a deliberate attempt, anyway, to do that
(media trial). We are just trying to do things by the book but
maybe that is the change of strategy that you people have observed.
We are working quietly and diligently on cases without necessarily
drawing public attention.”

*Says commission as a creation of N’Assembly supersedes
states’ establishments

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, has declared that the commission, under his
leadership, would not hand over cases of interest to any state
government. Bawa spoke against the backdrop of the setting up of
anti-corruption agencies by some states.

Lagos, Kano, and Bayelsa states have, recently, set up
anti-graft agencies. Some of the states envisage that the EFCC
would hand over corruption cases concerning their states to the
local anti-corruption commissions.

The EFCC chairman also denied asking the management teams of
banks to declare theirs assets to the commission. He insisted his
pronouncement was merely for purposes of eliciting information, as
the agency was not empowered to dish out such an order.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with THISDAY, the EFCC boss
stated that as a creation of the National Assembly, the federal
agency superseded any similar agency set up by the states.

He stated, “I am aware that Kano and Bayelsa have started their
own anti-corruption agencies. But those laws do not contain
anything that says that EFCC has nothing to do with investigating
their states, they would rather be complementing what the EFCC is
doing.

“There are a lot of Supreme Court decided cases on this
particular issue. From the briefing that I have received, those
things are already there. The EFCC is a creation of the National
Assembly, which, of course, supersedes, when it comes to that. So,
there’s already a federal legislation.

“We are yet to see how the EFCC is going to hand over cases that
they are interested in to any state government or see any
correspondence to that effect. We are investigating our matters. In
that regard, we are making progress.”
Bawa also expressed doubt over the capacity of states to handle
certain investigations in view of the capital-intensive nature.

According to him, “What I can say is that law enforcement is a
very, very expensive venture and requires a lot of training and
retraining, with trends of crime developing everyday, every second,
and you need to catch up with people doing that.

“Take, for instance, issues of money laundering, where, maybe,
somebody somewhere has laundered the proceeds of crime, let’s say
somewhere in Sokoto and you are in Oyo State or you have property,
a lot of things will come up.

“Maybe he has property in America, you need to carry out
request, involving mutual legal assistance treaty between, let’s
say, Nigeria and America, whether or not the American government
will recognise that.

“So, a lot of things left, right and centre are at play
regarding it. It is very, very expensive.

“Then, the issue of capacity. Yes, anybody can develop a
capacity to do that. But let’s wait and see.”

Addressing the alleged demand for declaration of assets by
bankers, Bawa said it was within the powers of the agency to make
such demands.

However, he said, “I did not say banks will come and declare
their assets to us. It is not within our powers to demand for that.
But it is within our powers to demand for information. You and
associate (s) without any hindrance or failure must give us
information on demand.

“If you are an individual or corporate entity or company, it is
an offence not to comply. That is why we write to individuals,
politicians to submit to us so that we will compare, because if you
are a suspect, before us, you are expected to even fill our own
declaration of assets form here.”

He explained further, “We write to CCB, for instance, to furnish
us what you declared. Yes, we write them to give us information on
what you declared so that we can make comparison.

“We have our reason for saying that come June 1st, we are going
to demand for the declaration of assets. That’s what I said. So, it
doesn’t matter whether you have not declared, it doesn’t matter
whether you have done anything, but what we said is that we are
going to demand for it.

“You understand this? This is in a 1986 law. It was passed when
I was just six years old. Yes, it’s an old law and they are
expected to declare their assets annually. So, what we said is that
we just need copies of those things, we have already demanded. On
June 1st, we wrote to all the banks, the MDS and DMDs should submit
copies of their declaration of asset form.

On accusations that the agency had engaged in media trial of
suspects, the EFCC chairman said the commission on his watch had
not only conducted diligent investigations but had also contributed
significantly to the development of law in Nigeria in the last 15
years.
Bawa stated, “Now, rightly or wrongly, the media, once matters are
in court, you have the right to go and get the facts – reporters
are always in court to report what has happened. So, you have been
accusing us wrongly of this.

“You did mention something that we do media trial, and then we
rush to court. There is no agency of government that has worked and
contributed to the development of law in this country in the last
15 years than the EFCC. Nobody has challenged me on that.

“We go to court. We love going to court. We have 90 per cent to
95 per cent success rate in court on the cases that we have
charged. So, it is not about stating the facts and losing cases.
Assuming we have 70 per cent success rate in court, is it not an A
that you will give us, but as you know, we have over 90 per cent
success rate in court.

“But, of course, we have changed our strategy in that regard as
well. And that is why maybe you are not seeing people under
investigation being mentioned in the media.

“But there was never a deliberate attempt, anyway, to do that
(media trial). We are just trying to do things by the book but
maybe that is the change of strategy that you people have observed.
We are working quietly and diligently on cases without necessarily
drawing public attention.”