CACOL: LIMITING BUHARI’S PROBE TO JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION; IN ORDER

President Buhari, we must recall, has been consistent in his declaration to limit his probe of activities of past government to that of his immediate predecessor. Even before being sworn into power, President Buhari had maintained that, he would not waste his administration’s precious time on probing every past administration before his as doing so would only amount to sheer distraction which, at the end of the day, would have left the very core of governance unattended to.

Former President Jonathan, on the eve of his leaving office had once stated that limiting such probe to his administration would be a witch-hunting exercise; a position his party, the PDP, has also taken. Continue reading “CACOL: LIMITING BUHARI’S PROBE TO JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION; IN ORDER”

July 24, 2015

…Recovery of stolen funds… Adeniran: Buhari should prosecute looters

Jul 24, 2015TEMITOPE OGUNBANKEPolitics0 Comments

…Recovery of stolen funds… Adeniran: Buhari should prosecute looters

Comrade Debo Adeniran is an anti-corruption crusader and chairman, Campaign Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL)

It is a good start that President Muhammadu Buhari has decided to trace the looted money to all the countries where they are domiciled and requesting or working with authorities of those countries with a view to repatriating such stolen funds to Nigeria. The president should not waste time in probing the looters as long as he knows the looters already.

What he should do is to hand them over to anti corruption agencies which should do diligent investigations on it and ensure that the anti-corruption agencies have the materials with which they will conduct the investigations, prepare quality charges against them and ensure that they are convicted.

The punishment for the convicted looters should go beyond slap-on-the wrist. It should be deterrent enough that every civil and public servant would be afraid to conspire with anybody to steal state funds and what we are recommending is not actually death penalty but life jail for anybody that stole up to N10 million.

All their properties and everything they must have possessed should be deemed to have been acquired through fraudulent practices, corruption, stealing, embezzlement, extortion, kick-back etc. and should be confiscated by the state.

I will also suggest that instead of wasting more money and time; since the report of the probe would still be sent to the anti-graft agencies, the agencies should rather be strengthened with men, material and money to execute their task without leaving any stone unturned.

President Buhari should also prevail on the governments of the countries where the public funds are stashed to assist Nigeria to expose those behind the practice.

Property acquired in those countries must also be investigated and if it is discovered that the property were procured through proceeds of corruption, they should be confiscated on behalf of Nigeria, sell them and repatriate the money to Nigeria. The anti-corruption institutions also need to be further strengthened with human and material resources that can enable them to deliver on their mandate for the anti-graft war to bear good fruits.

Source: New Telegraph Newspaper.

July 20, 2015

Prosecute Fashola Now, Anti Corruption Group Writes Buhari

Posted on July 19, 2015

An Anti-Corruption group known as Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, against former Lagos State Governor, asking him to prosecute Fashola rather than elevating him, Universal Reporters Reports.

According to CACOL in its letter they wrote; “We are constrained at this point in time to bring to your attention our critical reaction to the unbridled speculation making the rounds for some time now, from the members of the public as well as the media, as to the fact that the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, is being considered by the presidency for higher national responsibility. Feelers have it that his name is prominent on the list of the president’s nominees for key offices in your administration.”

CACOL further wrote thus saying; “Your Excellency Sir, it’s gratifying that you have promised at various fora that, having recognized the need to ensure that square pegs are put in square holes, your appointments were going to be purely on merit and that tested technocrats, with impeccable records, would be given their rightful places in your administration, as a way of ensuring good governance to the people of Nigeria. It is against this background that our organisation is appealing to you to please take the pains to dig deep into Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s record of overall performance as well as that of financial propriety on the part of his government while in office.”

Read The full details of the petition Below:

16th July, 2015

His Excellency

President Muhammadu Buhari

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Aso Rock Villa,

Abuja.

Your Excellency,

PROSECUTE MR. BABATUNDE FASHOLA; DON’T ELEVATE HIM – AN

APPEAL FOR PRESIDENT TO PREVAIL ON ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENCIES TO DO THE NEEDFUL ON OUR EVIDENCE-BASED PETITIONS

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), is a group of civil-society, community-based and other non-governmental organizations with the objective of fighting corruption and corrupt persons by any means possible at all levels in Nigeria.

We are constrained at this point in time to bring to your attention our critical reaction to the unbridled speculation making the rounds for some time now, from the members of the public as well as the media, as to the fact that the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, is being considered by the presidency for higher national responsibility. Feelers have it that his name is prominent on the list of the president’s nominees for key offices in your administration.

Whilst recognizing the president’s constitutional prerogative and right to make appointments as deemed fit, we, just like any other Nigerian, consider it a service to the nation, by providing information that might be helpful to your decision in that regard.

Your Excellency Sir, it’s gratifying that you have promised at various fora that, having recognized the need to ensure that square pegs are put in square holes, your appointments were going to be purely on merit and that tested technocrats, with impeccable records, would be given their rightful places in your administration, as a way of ensuring good governance to the people of Nigeria. It is against this background that our organisation is appealing to you to please take the pains to dig deep into Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s record of overall performance as well as that of financial propriety on the part of his government while in office.

Going by our corporate policy, we ordinarily do not react to speculations but given the grave implication of having to keep quiet, only to speak up after such appointment must have been made, would only amount to crying over spilt milk, we deem it necessary to use this medium to sensitize you on this development.

As could be seen from the attached copies of our previous petitions to both the EFCC and the ICPC over which no meaningful action has so far been taken, as well as books published by us on this subject-matter, it would be noted that our organisation never shirked its basic responsibility of blowing the whistle on issues centering on corruption in whatever form or guise in governance.

For ease of reference, please see as detailed below the afore-mentioned petitions:

February 3, 2010: To the EFCC and February 15, 2010 To the ICPC titled ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION AGAINST LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT: ICPC SHOULD INVESTIGATE – our reaction to THE PUNCH newspaper advertorial of January 28, 2010, under the title “The True Face of Lagos” on allegations of corrupt practices, signed by certain Mr. Kasali Martins and Dr. Tunde George who are Lagos residents, against the state government, which catalogued on a number of questionable claims of expenditure incurred by it.

January 20, 2011: To the ICPC titled RE: ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION AGAINST LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT: THE ICPC SHOULD INVESTIGATE – REMINDER AND FURTHER ALLEGATIONS – our follow-up action to the above and a fresh reaction to the INSIDER WEEKLY newsmagazine edition of November 15, 2010 which alleged series of fresh allegations of financial impropriety against the state government.

August 6, 2013: To the EFCC titled RE: ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION AGAINST LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT: EFCC SHOULD INVESTIGATE – REMINDER to the original petition of February 3, 2010 in which we made reference to the agency’s earlier invitation to us to come and adopt the said petition; an invitation we duly honoured, and expressed our displeasure at what appeared petition be the utter neglect or slow pace at which the anti-corruption agency had handled the matter and urged it to prevail on its personnel to speed up actions on our request to thoroughly investigate the allegations raised in the petition, make its report public and subsequently prosecute those indicted accordingly.

September 9, 2013: To the EFCC titled FURTHER REMINDER ON ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION AGAINST LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT: EFCC SHOULD INVESTIGATE: CACOL complained as it did earlier over the apparent inaction of the agency and reiterated its expectations as regard its request for expediency on the part of the latter.

February 25, 2014: To the EFCC titled FURTHER REMINDER ON ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION AGAINST LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT: EFCC SHOULD INVESTIGATE: We once again expressed our dissatisfaction at the apparent non-challant attitude of the agency so far on the matter.

May 29, 2015: To the ICPC and EFCC titled IMMUNITY IS NO LONGER AN EXCUSE FOR NOT QUESTIONING FASHOLA. RE; CALL FOR COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION INTO THE ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPT ACTIVITIES AGAINST THE LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT – FURTHER REMINDER: CACOL in its reminder, had detailed the series of its previous petitions to the agencies and had reminded both agencies that they owed it a duty to the nation and its people from whom the government derived its authority to governance, to expedite actions on the petitions as a way of acknowledging the people’s right to accountability from those they elected to govern them. It further reminded the agencies that since the then governor of the state in person of Mr. Babatunde Fashola automatically loses the immunity privilege from the 29th May, 2015, they (the agencies) no longer have any excuse for withholding actions regarding investigation and prosecution as demanded.

Finally, Your Excellency, we, like the majority of Nigerians, repose much confidence in your ability, going by your track record, and your promise to maintain and sustain a zero-tolerance stance to corruption and other related vices, in every facet. This is why we are hereby imploring you to give the necessary push to these aforementioned agencies to speed up actions towards establishing Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s culpability or otherwise and possibly follow it up with the necessary investigation and prosecution. It’s noteworthy too that Mr. Babatunde Fashola may have enjoyed so much of accolades from the media for exemplary performance as governor during his tenure, we make bold to say that all the media hype was a mere publicity gimmicks as they do not reflect the reality on ground. In the area of infrastructural development, for instance, especially as it concerns road networks, we implore you not to rely solely on media reports but make further efforts at using the machinery at your disposal to make on-the-spot findings and assessment of the true state of things in the state.

We must state here that we are not out to witch-hunt anyone; rather we are only serving as the voice of the voiceless and of course, the whistle-blower.

We also would like to sensitize you to the spill-over impact that mass protests and petitions from relevant quarters that might trail such appointment if eventually made, may have on your esteemed administration; this is why we consider it pertinent for you to do the needful by engaging in the necessary in-house cleaning ahead of the exercise.

We and other well-meaning Nigerians wish you success in your quest to bring about that comprehensive change that we have all this while been yearning for.

Source: Universal Reporters

July 8, 2015

Sidelining Official Anti-Graft Agencies Not The Solution To Loot Recovery – CACOL

By admin / Tuesday, 07 Jul 2015.

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders CACOL, has expressed it disagreement with the Federal Government’s attempt to sideline the official anti-graft agencies in recovering stolen loot.

This came on the heels on the statement that President Muhammadu Buhari may not involve the anti-graft agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ICPC in his effort to recover the looted funds.

According to media reports, a top government official, who is familiar with the Buhari’s effort at recovering looted funds, said that the President might rely more on people outside the system to achieve good results.

The official said, “The President’s body language as far as the anti-corruption agencies are concerned suggests that he does not have so much confidence in them. Most of the recovery job may be done by people outside the system, like consultants.” He added that the Buhari’s reliance on outsiders had started yielding positive results.

Reacting to the news, the Executive Chairman of the Coalition, Mr. Debo Adeniran averred that the seeming lacklustre performance of the agencies could be responsible for the president’s decision.

He said, “We know that it has been a different political party that has been ruling Nigeria since 1999 and the last regime of Goodluck Jonathan has been seen as a regime that protected corrupt leaders rather than prosecuting them. That could have been the reason why the present system lost confidence in any structure that the past administration left behind.

“We need to also realize that the past regime used some of their agencies to intimidate the present ruling class before and during the election and there had been several public exposed persons that had been let-off the hook because the anti-graft agencies are not well equipped to fight corruption in Nigeria and because these anti-graft agencies do not have the requisite training, equipment, the necessary personnel and protection, they have not been able to achieve much.

“That could have informed the loss of confidence in them by the President Muhammadu Buhari and you can’t blame him because most of the cases of the public exposed persons in Nigeria had been lost by the EFCC and ICPC; although not totally lost, most of the cases were dismissed which means that the anti-graft agencies can still re-file them and the people would be prosecuted.

However, the President could have strengthened the anti-graft agencies to be able to do exactly what he wants them to do rather than spend more money on consultants or private debt-recovery firms.

“It will amount to double expenditure on the same cause because as long as the anti-graft agencies are still there, allocations will be going to them and if we hire consultants, they are likely to take even more than what the official agencies would take.

Basically, rather than go out and look for private persons or private firms to recover these loot, the anti-graft agencies should be strengthened; they should be given more funds, more personnel and if there are bad eggs among them, those bad ones should be weeded-out and if it is the entirety of the personnel of the agencies that are untrustworthy they can be changed; not that they should be rendered impotent because by the time they lose confidence in them, members of the public will also lose confidence in them.

“As a matter of fact, most of the problems that faced these anti-graft agencies are not caused by the agencies themselves they are caused by the regime that puts them in place and who are supposed to fund and oversee their functions.

We should remember that there was a time the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, went round the courts to withdraw several anti-corruption cases against the wishes of the anti-graft agencies; we should also remember also that he came up with a gazette that actually paralyzed their capacity to prosecute any criminal that has stolen more than 50 million naira or those criminals that have international dimensions. That means that there is hardly any case they could prosecute on their own without the hand of the AGF.

All of these combined to paralyze the nation’s anti-graft agencies and if these impediments are removed by President Muhammadu Buhari, we are sure the anti-graft agencies would be up to the task. With our own study of the anti-graft agencies, we are sure they have qualified and committed personnel that are very patriotic, and those that could not be corrupted.

Also, there is nowhere in the world that the EFCC and ICPC cannot contact for the purpose of recovering the looted funds, there is mutual legal assistant treaty with many of the countries where these monies are kept. Is it the United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland and other European countries? Nigeria has mutual assistant treaty with them and that is what they could have exploited. We should remember when the former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori’s case was being pursued by the EFCC, several times they have to make contacts with the US and the UK including Switzerland to get information about where the looted money was being kept and they were successful and that was the basis on which they crafted the 170 charges that was levelled against him in Asaba Federal High Court. What impeded their progress was inadequate funding; they could not sustain their men who had to travel outside the country, they could not hire qualify lawyers while the criminal was able to hire many Senior Advocates of Nigeria.

So, it is really not so much of a problem for them to get in touch with other anti-graft agencies outside the country with a view to recovery this looted funds; they have links with FBI, British Police and several others. We have held some programmes with them with all of these foreign investigators and anti-corruption agencies.

We believe that with more capacity in terms of training, in terms of funding, in terms of equipping and protection even to the investigators themselves they are likely to do better than what they are doing. There is no reason why we should hire foreign investigators because some of these foreigners are also collaborative with these public exposed persons who have looted this country’ funds

So basically, it is the change of tactics not actually strategies that the present regime needs to prosecute its anti-corruption war. The strategies can still work, it is the tactics that should be amended such that everyone that is suspicious of having soiled his hand or having had a mind of being corrupted should be weeded-out and should be sidelined in the effort to recover the looted fund, not the EFCC and ICPC as a whole; even the Code of Conduct Bureau has a role to play if it is well strengthened.

SOURCE: Universal Reporters.

July 6, 2015

Approval Of N39.4bn World Bank Loan For Lagos State Unwarranted-CACOL

Posted by: Newsdiaryonline Posted date: July 03, 2015 In: Business, News

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL has described the World Bank N39.4bn loan approval for Lagos state as unwarranted.

This came on the heels of the recent release that the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank has approved $200m (about N39.4bn) credit to Lagos State to support a range of reforms relating to fiscal sustainability, budget planning, budget execution and the investment climate in the state.

According to a statement issued by the World Bank, the facility is to help sustain the state’s recent economic growth and poverty reduction, while helping to continue to deliver social services to the expanding population.

Reacting to this on behalf of the Coalition, its Executive Chairman, Comrade Debo Adeniran expressed his total disagreement on the loan approval based on the reasons advanced by the World Bank as basis for the approval.

“The World Bank, unlike the contemporary commercial banks, essentially, neither out to make profit, nor to just satisfy its obligations as bankers, but basically has, as the centerpiece of its prerogatives, to ensure that in giving financial support to the needy government and states, the interest of the generality of the people should be paramount. Since governance itself is all about the people, the World Bank, as the citadel of financial back-up as well as the economic bedrock of the whole world, it is thus so expected that criteria for loan consideration should go beyond just the ability of such loan applicant to repay but more of what the loan is to be utilized for and of course, the record of performance of the applicant as regards its sincerity in strictly applying the fund for the original purpose.

“ far has Lagos State government gone to provide the needed social services to the people that would justify the unending borrowing? On poverty reduction, building of developmental projects, what is the positive impact of their programmes on the lives of the average citizen of Lagos State?

“In the area of infrastructure, it is an open fact that the unmotorable roads are more in number than the motorable ones. Even most of the roads that could be regarded as motorable have become a big hype of traffic jams on daily basis just because the flyovers, pedestrian bridges are lacking. All the measures that could make way for free traffic are not available and these are to be provided by the state. Public transportation is still in short supply.

On housing, how many civil servants could boast of having houses of their own even after having put in decades of services to the state. Even where some are provided, the price tag is too high and beyond the reach of the average civil servant.

When we talk of providing social amenities, we know that health institutions have been under-provided and it is not able to meet half the need of the people. On portable water, except for individual landlords, having to rely on making boreholes for occupiers of houses; the government has rendered that virtually to the background as over 80 percent of its citizens have no access to portable drinking water; they do not even talk about it anymore as if it does not fall within its priority. One would not be asking for too much for a state government like Lagos’s, with an annual average IGR of over N400bn, to have in place social security schemes like the National Insurance Scheme for its citizens or civil servants, to take care of the un-foreseen?

’The Debt Management Office DMO’s external debt figures (without adding domestic debts) show Lagos as Nigeria’s most indebted state with $1.17 billion debt. The Coalition queries the justification for additional loans approved by the World Bank and we challenge the state to justify how appropriately previous loans had been utilized and its impact on Lagosians. We also challenge the state to come out and defend its present state of insolvency.

“The state is owing so much and it could get to a point that no matter how much they earn i.e from their Internally Generated Revenue IGR, it may not be able to meet up with the repayment schedule and by the time a sizeable percentage of the earnings go to servicing loans, little would be left to address the core issues of governance which of course should be pro-people in every way.”

”Looking at it from the angle of what happened at the Federal level which depended so much on oil, the fall in oil price almost collapsed the country’s economy. A similar thing could happen to any state that depends so much on its IGR. There could be a sharp drop in the IGR and that may lead to such government’s inability to meet its obligations especially in the area of debt servicing. We want to express the fear that, should the trend continue, it might get to a point whereby the greater bulk of earnings would go into loan servicing thus leaving so little for developing both the people and the state itself.

“It must be realized that when loans are obtained, the servicing of then repayment generally is done from this same common-wealth which is said to belong to the people now the people are not enjoying from the borrowing but they are to bear the pains of repayment. Today the state is groaning under the burden of the existing loan. An addition loan means additional pains and suffering.

Speaking further, Adeniran said “it must be realized that when such loans are given, the borrower premises it reasons for borrowing on its constitutional responsibility for making life better for the people. Therefore, consideration for gratifying such loans should as well be premised on its end implication on the same people.

The World Bank should begin to look beyond the ability of the borrowers to pay back but the general implication of such deals on the lives of people; this is what informs the sharp difference between its corporate status and that of the other commercial banks.

SOURCE: News Dairy.

July 2, 2015

Recovering unremitted $19 billion from NNPC

June 29, 2015 : Punch Editorial Board 37 Comments

Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Joseph Dawha

UNDER past administrations, especially the Goodluck Jonathan epoch, calls for the recovery of outstanding revenues from oil companies fell on deaf ears. The demand resonated recently in the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative reminder to President Muhammadu Buhari of the $19.1 billion still outstanding, part of which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation collected but refused to pay into the Federation Account as required by law.

A statement by NEITI’s spokesman, Ogbonnaya Orji, said that some oil companies were in default in the payment of royalties and rents, just as under-assessment of taxes was rampant, all of which amounted to $7.5 billion. There was also the $11.6 billion paid by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas to the Federal Government, which the NNPC sequestered for inexplicable reasons for years.“Our 2012 Audit Report discovered that total dividend loans and interest repayment from LNG paid to the NNPC in 2012 was $2.8 billion; however, in the course of NEITI’s audit, the NNPC was unable to provide any evidence to prove that the funds were remitted to the federation as required by law. The total amount received by the NNPC from LNG under the same circumstances, which has not been remitted to the Federation Account stands at $11.6 billion,” NEITI said.

In the run-up to the last elections earlier in the year, a meeting between the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts and NLNG threw up a similar finding, which prompted the committee to demand bank statements from the NNPC to confirm lodgement of the funds into federal coffers. But rather than comply, it dispatched a sassy missive to the committee, questioning its powers to look into its books.

Such impunity has all along defined the operations of the corporation, and it explains why oil revenues are not accounted for. Lamido Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in February 2014 noted that the NNPC accounts had not been audited since 2005. This is in addition to the $20 billion crude oil proceeds he alleged the corporation had not remitted to the Federation Account. Sanusi’s audacity unnerved Jonathan, and he wasted no time in removing him from office.

Worse still for the administration, a face-saving forensic audit of the NNPC’s account ironically confirmed the abysmal mess. PriceWaterHouseCoopers, the firm that did the job, could not vouch for the integrity of the audit as relevant government agencies refused to oblige the auditors with all the documents required for a thorough forensic inquest. “The procedures we performed did not constitute an examination or a review in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards or attestation standards,” PwC said. Yet, the immediate past Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in an attempt to hoodwink Nigerians, claimed that the audit report had exonerated the NNPC from any culpability.

As oil is the country’s cash cow, and the NNPC, the hub of its management, implicated in serial scamming of the public treasury, Buhari is advised to begin his anti-corruption war from there. It is laughable that the corporation, which ignored a parliamentary enquiry on accountability, suddenly admitted that it had not remitted funds in its custody for four years running.

The claim by its spokesman, Ohi Alegbe, shortly after the NEITI salvo that accounts reconciliation was the reason for the delay is deceitful, illogical and unacceptable. The NNPC should shop for other reasons for its breach of trust. It is curious that every transaction involving it is enmeshed in an endless cycle of reconciliations – crude oil revenues, fuel marketers’ claims, and now dividend revenue received for mere transfer to the Federation Account.

Apart from this, other financial misdeeds are no less embarrassing. Buhari is already aware of some of them, including not knowing all the bank accounts it has, and failure to satisfactorily explain what it does with the 445,000 barrels per day crude oil swap with some local and international firms.

However, a Swiss non-government advocacy group – Berne Declaration – in a report in 2013 entitled: “Swiss Traders Opaque Deals in Nigeria,” detailed how the NNPC and its confederates in some Nigerian fuel importers and foreigners drain billions of dollars through some “Letter Box Companies.” The Swiss firms were said to have defrauded Nigeria of $6.8 billion in the process, as they bought crude oil below the market value.

Instructively, Buhari has not been able to release his ministerial list because of his quest for critical information on government’s finances and the oil industry, which his transition committee, headed by Ahmed Joda, has now put together. Faced with a dim financial outlook as crude oil prices in the global market have dwindled by half, since mid-last year, his government can overcome this crunch by recovering these unremitted funds.

As a corrupt and incompetent national oil company, the NNPC failed to renew the Memorandum of Understanding for Joint Venture partnership with the international oil companies, which expired in 2008. The consequence, NEITI noted in its report that covered 2009 to 2011, was that “companies covered by the JVs still use expired MOU in their transactions with Nigeria, resulting in revenue loss of the difference between NNPC’s and the covered entities’ position of over $1.7 billion.”

Because the NNPC is impervious to transparency and accountability, some oil companies have adopted its dodgy template in their operations, which has cost the country dearly. Without delay, these oil firms should be compelled to embrace international best practices in their operations as they do abroad. We believe that the implementation of past NEITI reports, criminally ignored by past governments, would breathe fresh air into the oil sector.

Indeed, these squalid features of the NNPC and the oil industry at large are too glaring and damaging to be overlooked by the government. If the depraved characters that masterminded these obscene rip-offs are not brought to book under the Buhari government, then, the country would have irredeemably lost the battle to entrench good governance structures in the sector the way other oil producing nations have done.

SOURCE: The Punch.

July 2, 2015

N4.7b Fraud Case: Judge Withdraws From Babalakin’s Suit

Jun 29 2015 – 5:51pm

by; Tunde Opeseitan

A Lagos Federal High Court judge, Justice James Tsoho, has excused himself from a suit filed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Chairman of Bi-Courtney Group, Wale Babalakin, challenging the moves by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to re-initiate criminal charge against him over alleged N4.7 billion fraud.

Babalakin, in the suit, is accusing both the AGF and the EFCC of making desperate efforts to prosecute him maliciously.

The silk is specifically seeking a judicial review of the actions of the AGF and EFCC to prosecute him again after being discharged of the same crime.

Babalakin, it would be recalled, was on February 23, 2015, discharged by Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of an Ikeja High Court, along with Alex Okoh, Stabilini Visinoni Ltd, Bi-Courtney Ltd and Renix Nigeria Ltd.

The EFCC had accused them of committing money laundering crime to the tune of N4.7 billion.

However, after two years in court, the Judge ruled that there was no basis for the charges and consequently struck out the charges and discharged Babalakin and other defendants.

Justice Akapo had then observed that the entire 27-counts charges did not contain any single charge that constituted an offence under the laws of Nigeria.

However, following reports that the EFCC was planning to file the same charges against him on the same subject matter and on the same provisions of the law, Babalakin promptly approached the Federal High Court seeking protection and a Judicial Review of the actions.

The matter was assigned to Justice Tsoho, who on April 29, 2015, granted a restraining order against EFCC, prohibiting the agency from proceeding with the action pending the determination of the suit.

The order was later vacated by the judge but the EFCC was asked to maintain status quo pending the final determination of the suit.

When the matter came up on Monday, Justice Tsoho announced his withdrawal from the suit following a petition from Babalakin through his lawyer to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, seeking the transfer of the case to another judge.

The basis of the petition dated 19th June, 2015, was that the ex-parte order restraining EFCC from arresting Babalakin was discharged by Justice Tsoho without a formal application.

EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Jacob, however kicked against the development, saying he was never served with a copy of the petition.

SOURCE: Daily Independent.

July 2, 2015

Dangerous debts and governance cost reduction

By Date Published29/06/2015

In the parlance of financial experts, debts are usually categorized into different groups– good or bad, dangerous or manageable. generally, however, a debt is a debt. If an individual is indebted, his life is dented; his economy is easily cornered and threatened. And so, if a country is heavily indebted without concrete investment like in the case of Nigeria with unserious economic policies and poorly- managed assets and cash flow (in and out), then the nations’s image and integrity become dangerously dented in global diplomatic rating.

The general postulation that the richest country in the world is the most indebted nation is just but a statemeut void of substance. Because the way the advananced democracies run their own economies is not the way we run our own. For example, America has a population of 316 million people with the Gross domestic product (GDP) of $17,328 tn. This is about 30 times Nigeria’s GDP. And with all these, it is said to have only 15 federal ministries. Continue reading “Dangerous debts and governance cost reduction”

June 29, 2015

FG traces looted funds to US, UK and other European countries.

The Federal Government has started tracing looted Nigerian funds to foreign countries with the aim of retrieving them.
This move came after the declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari on his first day in Aso Villa office that he inherited an almost empty treasury from his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, thus vowing that his administration would recover all the looted funds kept in foreign banks by corrupt Nigerians.
The President was quoted as saying in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.
“The next three months may be hard, but billions of dollars can be recovered, and we will do our best,”
Some of the countries where looted funds from Nigeria have been kept in the past include Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Others are France, Germany, British Virgin Islands and other tax havens spread across the globe.
Adesina, who confirmed the move in an exclusive interview with Saturday PUNCH on Thursday, said, the search for the looted funds will not be limited to these countries but anywhere in the world where they may be hidden.
He said,
“The search will not only cover UK, US, Switzerland, Germany and other known havens for Nigerian looted funds but will cover everywhere under the sun. Anywhere and everywhere that the looted funds are, we have an assurance from the United States of America to assist us to repatriate these funds from anywhere under the sun.”
It was learnt that the Federal Government’s investigation was meant to identify the individuals who were involved in corrupt practices and ascertain the sums of money involved with a view to retrieving them.
Anti-corruption agencies will also play a prominent role in the exercise targeted at corrupt government officials in the recent past administration and their private sector collaborators, among others.
To this end, Adeniyi said that the Federal Government is planning to engage the services of foreign private investigators to help trace and find looted funds belonging to the people of Nigeria.
“Everything that needs to be done to get all those funds repatriated will be done, including engaging private investigators,” the Presidential spokesperson added.
Buhari had lamented that officials of the recent past government jettisoned all financial and administrative instructions put in place in parastatals and agencies while embracing impunity, lack of accountability and financial recklessness in the management of national resources.
This, the President said, had thrown the country into financial crisis.
The foreign search, which is expected to be thorough, will, among others, be directed at foreign banks with the ultimate aim of getting incontrovertible facts and figures that can aid the government in collaboration with the US and other members of the G7 nations to recover stolen funds stashed abroad.
Adesina said the identification of foreign banks being used to stash stolen funds was one of the mandates given to Buhari during a meeting he had with President Barak Obama at the recent G-7 summit in Germany.
He said,
“When the President met with the G7, the promise that the American President gave him was that Nigeria should just provide all the facts, the figures, the statistics, including the banks.
“He promised that if Nigeria could make the information available, then the US will help in recovering the stolen funds.”
When asked specifically if the Federal Government had started identifying the banks, the presidential spokesman said,
“Yes. In fact, the President said the government will spend the next three months identifying banks, individuals and monies that have been ferried out of this country.
“The assurance the President has given is that within the next three months, we have to concentrate on getting those monies back to the government coffers,” he added.
Buhari had said early in the week that his administration had received firm assurances of cooperation from the US and other countries in his quest to recover and repatriate funds stolen from Nigeria.
Buhari, while granting audience to members of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, had said that it was now up to Nigeria to provide the international community with the facts and figures needed to drive the recovery effort.
He said he would be busy, in the next three months, getting the facts that would help in recovering the stolen funds.
“In the next three months, our administration will be busy getting those facts and the figures to help us recover our stolen funds in foreign countries,’’ the President had said.
The Federal Government may also go after property owned by public fund looters in London, Dubai, US, Saudi Arabia and other choice international real estate markets where Nigerians are known to be some of its biggest buyers.
It was also learnt that the Department for International Development, a UK government department responsible for administering overseas aid, had alerted the President on over N1.3tn stolen during the last administration, where it is kept and who the beneficiaries are.
“This was one of the agreement reached between President Buhari and the G7 countries when the former attended the meeting in Germany,” the DFID source said.
The US in March 2014 had ordered a freeze on $458m in assets stolen by the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, and his accomplices. Abacha died in office in 1998.
The US Justice Department named two bank accounts in the Bailiwick of Jersey and two other accounts in France as depositories of $313m and $145m Abacha loot respectively. Four other investment portfolios and three bank accounts in Britain were also frozen, with an estimated value of at least $100m.
President Buhari said the last administration mismanaged the economy while stating that it was a disgrace that state governments in the country can’t pay salaries; hence, the need to recover looted funds wherever they may be hidden.
Chief Olu Falae, commended the move and described it as laudable and desirable, he expressed the belief that looted funds could be recovered because the whole world is now talking about promotion of transparency in governance.
“If some monies could be recovered from Abacha loot in the recent past, then it will be possible to recover looted funds from others as well,” he said.
The former minister, however, urged the President to follow due process while going after the looted funds.
Falae said,
“It is just that we have to follow due process because we cannot force the countries where the looted funds were stashed to return them because they are not subject to our authorities. But if we follow due process, it might be possible for us to recover those monies.
“The monies should not just be recovered; they should be used to develop the country. There should be no exception; anybody who has looted the public fund should be made to return it. Not only monies stashed abroad should be recovered, those stolen and kept in the country should also be recovered. I wish the President good luck in his move to achieve this initiative.”
Also, the Convener of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr. Debo Adeniran, asked Buhari to follow the normal channel through mutual legal assistant treaty that Nigeria has with the countries where such monies were stashed, if he really wants the stolen funds repatriated.
He said, “The President may succeed if he invokes the letter of the mutual legal assistant treaty, but I am not sure Nigeria has such with Switzerland although that country has been voluntarily returning Abacha loot to Nigeria.
“There are several other countries that may not be willing to return the volume of the money that was kept in their banks by the looters except there is international status that Nigeria can invoke to compel them to repatriate the fund.
“Nigeria has to go through legal process except it was one of the wish list that Buhari presented to the G7 countries. We have expressed it in some fora that we expected that Buhari would make it the top of his agenda at the G7 summit in Germany that he should get the G7 to cooperate with Nigeria on how not to allow looted funds by Nigeria’s public officials to be kept in their financial institutions.”
Adeniran also asked Buhari to prevail on the governments of the countries where the public funds were being stashed to assist Nigeria to expose those behind the practice.
He said, “Property acquired in those countries must also be investigated and if it is discovered that the property were procured through proceeds of corruption, they should be confiscated on behalf of Nigeria, sell them and repatriate the money to Nigeria.”
He said, “It is our hope that something positive will come out of it considering that the banks in the US and some other Western countries were part of the laundering. They collected money from corrupt Nigerians and as far as we know, their countries did nothing to make sure the banks do not collect stolen money from Nigeria.
“Those found culpable in looting our public funds should be tried in the law courts. It’s not enough to collect the stolen funds without any sanctions meted out to them to serve as deterrent to others. Punishments meted out to corrupt individuals are also not commensurate with the crime committed, and this should be corrected.”

SOURCE: Afro Naija com.

June 29, 2015

Okiro And Alleged Election Fund Fraud

Jun 25 2015 – 12:10am

Retired Inspector-General of Police Mr. Mike Okiro, hit the nail on the head over the hullabaloo regarding the N275.5million election fund fraud. He asserted that the whole scheme was an attempt to blackmail him.

Ekpo-Nta

It is difficult to fault the genuine accounts of Mr. Okiro on this matter when he asserted, at a press conference, in Abuja on June 8, 2015, that “the PSC spent N217.3million of the money and that the remaining N132.6 million was returned to the commission’s project account”. Mr. Aron Kaase, a Principal Administrative Officer, had claimed, in his petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), that “the money was part of the N350 million collected by the PSC for monitoring conferences and training of staff ahead of the March/April general election”. As any rational mind must be able to attest, an Okiro-led PSC out to defraud the government would not have left a balance of the money in a special account of the PSC. If the intention was to embezzle public funds, the N132.6million, left in a special account of the PSC, would have ended up in the private bank accounts of Mr. Okiro and other high officials of the PSC. Again, Mr. Okiro made the point that “because the approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) came late, we were able to conduct only one-day training, and the PSC staff were paid their allowances and Daily Travelling Allowance (DTA) for the exercise and their entitlements for the journey to the states for the monitoring”. Mr. Kaase had said “that instead of the four-day approval granted by the Bureau of Public Procurement, a mock training of two hours was conducted at Northgate Hotels Limited, Mararaba, Nasarawa State instead of Kano State”. However, an objective appraisal of the two positions stated here shows that while Okiro is right, Mr. Kaase is wrong. If approval for the trainings were granted only a few days to the Presidential and National Assembly elections, was it still feasible to conduct a four day training exercise? Of course, it does not take any superior intellect to appreciate the fact that the only reason a balance of N132.6 million was left in a special account of the PSC was because a four-day training exercise was reduced to one. In any case, what point did Mr. Kaase set out to make when he claimed that “Okiro has failed to refund the money granted for the other three days in his request letter?” If, as things are becoming clearer by the day that there is a N132.6 million balance from the N350 million in a special project account of the PSC, what kind of money refund is Mr. Kaase talking about? Is Mr. Okiro expected to refund monies already paid to the contracting firms to conduct the one-day training exercise? Is Mr. Okiro required to repay the funds he had already deployed to paying for the allowances and DTA of the PSC staff who travelled to the states to monitor police performance, during the 2015 general elections? What really is the problem for which Mr. Okiro is being antagonised by Mr. Kaase? In the final analysis, the point just has to be made that Mr. Kaase’s tantrums against Mr. Okiro, in the name of idle petitions to the ICPC and the EFCC, over the alleged mismanagement of the sum of N350 million, remains a failed blackmailing scheme. There is nothing in the petitions against Mr. Okiro that should warrant the ICPC and the EFCC wasting their scarce resources in the name of investigating the mismanagement of funds earlier earmarked for training monitors and monitoring of police officers engaged for the 2015 general elections. Mr. Okiro was being charitable, to a fault, when he wasted precious time and energy he ought to have deployed to the service of the nation, as the Chairman of the PSC, to granting an unnecessary press conference expected to counter the mischievous concoctions of Mr. Kaase.

SOURCE: Daily Independent.