EFCC secured 117 court convictions in 2013 – Lamorde
Adetokunbo Fakeye
Mr Ibrahim Lamorde, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said on Monday that the commission secured 117 court convictions in corruption-related cases in 2013.
Lamorde stated this at a workshop tagged “Effective Reporting of Economic and Financial Crimes’’, in Port Harcourt.
Represented by the Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Mr Osita Nwaja, he said, the EFCC was anticipating much high figures of conviction this year due to its several ongoing investigations.
“The commission is actively engaged in the investigation and prosecution of persons and organisations implicated in the oil subsidy fraud, through which the nation lost billions of Naira.
“Some suspects involved in the subsidy scandal are being prosecuted in court, while tangible recoveries of assets had been made.
“This development also applies to fraud in the pension sector and theft of crude oil in the creeks which everyone is really concerned about,’’ he said.
Mr Lamorde stated that, the commission was reviewing its strategies to enable it meet with peculiar challenges it was faced with in some environment it operates.
He said, the commission had intensified public enlightenment campaigns to assist people to know about crime prevention and know how to give out the right information.
According to him the workshop was aimed at improving public consciousness of the ills of economic and financial crimes on the nation’s economy.
“Nigerians must buy in and take ownership of the fight against corruption in view of the fact that the commission cannot win the fight against economic crimes alone,’’ he said.
The EFCC boss, called on stakeholders particularly the media to collaborate with the commission and make the fight against financial crimes a success.