The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu has revealed the forces that are frustrating the commission’s effort to bring Alison-Madueke, and Mohammed Adoke to trial.
The EFCC chairman has said that foreign countries has made it harder to bring these Nigerians to book, saying that the United Kingdom was foot- dragging on the investigation of the former petroleum minister. Madueke who has been in the UK since 2015 is being investigated for corruption.
He had spoken in a meeting with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) at the EFCC headquarters.
He said:“There is the case of Mrs. Alison-Madueke which has been going on for over four years and the amount involved is about $2.4 billion and no kobo has been recovered from overseas.
“Though we have recovered some of the proceeds of the crime, we are still tracing others.”
He added: “Though we have not been able to arrest some of these fleeing people, it is good that they know they are on red notice, as there are Nigerians like Alison-Madueke whom we have applied for.”
Tony Orilade, the agency’s Acting Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, quoted Magu saying: “Getting Alison-Madueke, Dan Etete, (former petroleum minister), Mohammed Adoke (former attorney general and minister of justice), all of whom are overseas and facing fraud cases in Nigeria, back to the country has been a problem.
“He therefore, urged their new countries of residence to either prosecute them or hand them over to Nigeria since they are Nigerians.”
“We are willing to cooperate with Interpol at all times, if there is anything other enforcement agencies cannot provide especially in financial crime, the Interpol is sure to get result here in EFCC because we specialize in financial crime, money laundering and terrorist financing.
We are thankful for Interpol residency in the EFCC i24/7. We are delighted that the collaboration with Interpol is yielding results, especially in the area of intelligence.”
Sebastian Bley, the Interpol’s Coordinator on Anti-corruption had commended the EFCC on the corruption fight in Nigeria.
He said: “We are fostering our relationship with selected law enforcement agencies in Nigeria because we are doing a set of activities which have been fruitful. One area we will need to be stronger is the area of case coordination support.
“What we do basically is capacity building, expert working group meetings and regional training workshop. The next workshop is coming up in August in Ghana and the EFCC will participate.”
Also saying that the Interpol is still ready to offer as much support as possible.
He said: “INTERPOL can take care of logistics; we can give support in terms of investigation and recovery of funds. Interpol is the platform, the channel that allows law enforcement agencies to gather together and exchange sensitive information among themselves as a closed group.
“We thank the great collaboration we have with the EFCC and we are looking forward to foster the relationship. The capacity building in Ghana which the EFCC is contributing is a good step.”