Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, on Monday, July 16, 2012, said that investigations into fuel subsidy payments by the Commission would soon be completed and those indicted arraigned in court.
Lamorde made the disclosure when the President of Campaign for Democracy, CD, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, paid him a courtesy visit at the Commission’s headquarters, Abuja.
According to Lamorde, considerable amount of work has been done in the investigation of the fuel subsidy payments. “The EFCC is avoiding media feast. That is why we are conducting the investigations and interrogations quietly, so as to have a smooth outcome. Very soon, some officials will be taken to court”, he said.
While lamenting the delay in the trial of corruption cases, Lamorde recalls the case of a former governor who was arraigned in 2007 but the matter has not progressed beyond the plea stage due to frivolous applications by the defendant. He said such delays are responsible for the clamour for the establishment of special courts to handle corruption cases. He absolved the Commission of blame in such delays as the EFCC has no control over the judicial process.
The EFCC Chairman urged the Campaign for Democracy to help monitor some of the corruption cases in court with a view to facilitating the speedy disposal of such cases.
Earlier in her remark, Dr. Okei-Odumakin said the visit which is the first by her association to any organization in Nigeria in the last six years, was intended to demonstrate the CD’s support for the leadership of the EFCC under Lamorde and to underscore its preparedness to collaborate with the EFCC in the anti-graft campaign.
She disclosed that Lamorde’s assumption of duty was timely, noting that corruption has become the fastest growing industry in Nigeria.
She called on the EFCC to look into several cases of former governors indicted for corruption across the country with no visible progress being made in their trials. She also said that Nigerians are showing enough interest in the outcome of the fuel subsidy investigation.
The Campaign for Democracy President further called on all Nigerians to join in the fight against corruption to rescue the country from the vice grips of the malaise.
