The anti-graft agencies of the United Kingdom spent £14 million (N4.3 billion) to secure the conviction of Chief James Ibori, former governor of Delta State, it emerged, yesterday at the plenary session of the Senate.
The disclosure was made by Sen. Victor Lar, Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption, during the 2015 budget defence of N542,199,776 for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“People are quick to celebrate the conviction of James Ibori in the UK (United Kingdom). The truth is that to secure Ibori’s conviction, a whooping sum of £14 million was expended.
“That is almost N4 billion, which is more than recurrent and capital budgets of all the anti-corruption agencies put together,” Lar said.
He stressed the need to amend the laws guiding the operations of Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies – the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to ensure financial autonomy. This, he said, will enable them to successfully prosecute financial crimes.
Sen. Lar also stated that people criticized the present government of not doing enough to fight corruption because Nigerians were impatient, adding that the difference between the present administration and the previous ones was that the present follows due process.
by Greenstarnetwork admin..
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