EFCC reopens subsidy fraud cases
There are indications that the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission is revisiting investigations into the
fuel subsidy fraud cases which it abandoned since 2012.
It was learnt by our correspondent on
Sunday that the EFCC authorities decided to step up the investigation at
the twilight of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration whose
disposition towards the subsidy fraud and other corruption cases,
sources said, did not encourage the prosecution of the suspects.
Our correspondent gathered that in the
last two weeks, the EFCC had been inviting some of the fuel subsidy
suspects, who were indicted in the 2012 Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede-led
Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of subsidy
claims.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who did not
want to be named, said one of the suspects, whose friend was also
indicted in the Aig-Imoukhuede-led committee’s report, had already
briefed him last week in anticipation that he would be invited soon by
the EFCC.
According to the lawyer, the client’s
friend has already been invited by the EFCC, adding that it is only a
matter of time before he (the client) will also be invited by the
anti-graft agency.
“The client told me last week that his
friend had been invited. So, he has run to me in anticipation that he
would also be invited any moment from now,” the lawyer said.
An in-house counsel with the EFCC, who
also pleaded not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on
the issue, also confirmed the development.
He said the EFCC never stopped
investigation into the subsidy fraud, but had only been handicapped by
the Presidency’s disposition towards the cases.
The source said, “It is true that some of
the suspects are now being invited. But we never stopped
investigations. Our hands had only been tied because of the President’s
disposition. We have to get approval from him before we can investigate
or prosecute the suspects.
“But the approval was not forthcoming. We
are hoping that things will start changing when the new government is
inaugurated and that is why we are stepping up our investigations.”
Between July and August 2012, based on
its independent investigation, the EFCC arraigned some oil marketers and
their firms with the assurance that others would be charged to court
thereafter.
Our correspondent learnt that there had
been no other major arraignment of suspects apart from the 12 firms out
of about 124 that were investigated by the EFCC and charged to court
since 2011.
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