By Adedapo Adesanya
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said it would commence prosecution of bank executives complicit in aiding money laundering in the country.
Speaking at the 17th annual conference of the Chartered Institute Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ola Olukoyede, said findings by the anti-graft agency revealed complicity in money laundering, illegal foreign exchange sales, and trading among bank officials.
He used the event to call on the CIBN to step up its regulatory functions to guard against fraud, noting that major financial frauds were conducted through the nation’s banking system.
This followed a call by the EFCC chief to defence counsels in the agency’s cases to be guided by the ethics of their profession in the discharge of their duties to their clients.
Mr Olukoyede gave the charge recently through the Ibadan Zonal Director of the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1 Mrs Hauwa Garba Ringim, when the Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) Ibadan Branch, led by its chairman, Mr Ibrahim Lawal paid her a courtesy visit.
“It is disheartening how a reasonable number of lawyers come into EFCC premises and begin to display unprofessionalism; trying to interfere in investigation activities and pushing to get things done their way, outside the standard operating procedure of the EFCC.
“Why would a lawyer walk into the EFCC office to see his client and tell the investigating officer that he or she ought to have concluded the investigation on his or her client and that if the officer does not conclude the investigation within his stipulated time he will frustrate the efforts of the investigating officer? This is appalling,” he said in a statement.
While emphasizing the need for consistent stakeholders’ engagement between the Bar and EFCC towards effective service delivery, Mr Olukoyede further frowned at the situation in which lawyers now roam EFCC premises, “hunting for clients without considering the decency of their profession.”
The EFCC boss, however, assured lawyers in the country of the Commission’s collaboration, noting that it is critical in the law enforcement activities of the Commission.