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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cThese actions of the (suspended) acting Chairman in refusing the regulations are a clear case of refusal to follow lawful instructions and directives contrary to the provisions of the Act that establishes the EFCC,\u2019\u2019 NAN stated, quoting a separate report on the matter, addressed to the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magu\u2019s friends, cronies bought properties at giveaway prices<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report stated, \u201cMost of the recovered assets are allegedly sold without anyone knowing and without proper records and without recourse to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing that has the mandate to undertake evaluation of such properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome of the assets have been taken over by the EFCC officials while some are sold at giveaway prices to friends and cronies of the acting chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is also on record that the (suspended) acting chairman is maintaining different accounts, including using proxies who return the benefits of the sold assets to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese funds are then used to procure property and lands in the names of some of his proxies,\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magu turned EFCC to \u2018glorified police station\u2019 for selfish motives \u2013 Report<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NAN also reported that one of the investigative committees set up by the President to look into the activities of the EFCC under Magu, alleged that the suspended EFCC boss turned the commission into a \u2018glorified police station\u2019 for alleged selfish motives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the report of the committee, Magu has continued seconding police officers to the EFCC in spite of the massive recruitment of officers and men carried out by the commission in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It stated, \u201cThe blatant display of arrogance and acquisition of illicit wealth have turned the EFCC into a glorified police station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDespite massive recruitment of officers and men in recent years by the (suspended) acting chairman at the EFCC, he is still seconding police officers to the EFCC because he is comfortable with his fellow officers to carry out his illicit activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe does not have any exit strategy for the police even though the EFCC officers are more experienced in the investigation of economic and financial crimes,\u2019\u2019 the report further noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His continued detention unconstitutional, says Oyetibo<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Tayo Oyetibo, on Sunday faulted the continued detention of Magu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement titled, \u201cMagu still has rights,\u201d Oyetibo contended that notwithstanding the weighty allegations against Magu, his detention beyond 24 hours without being charged to court was a violation of the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SAN said though the EFCC under Magu was notorious for long detention of suspects in violation of Section 35 of the Nigerian constitution, \u201cthe law of karma has no place under our constitutionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said, \u201cAmidst the cacophony of allegations of serious crimes made against Magu, the law of Nigeria still speaks the same language which is expressed in Section 35 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which provides to the effect that every person who is arrested or detained upon reasonable suspicion of his having committed a criminal offence shall be brought before a court of law within a period of 24 hours in the case of an arrest in a place where there is a court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of 40 kilometres otherwise he ought to be released on bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Falana denies receiving N28m from Magu, threatens libel suit<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a related development, a human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), on Sunday denied receiving N28m from the suspended acting chairman of the EFCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Falana, in a pre-action letter signed by his lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN) of Citipoint law firm, demanded a retraction of the claim by a newspaper which published a story suggesting that Magu had paid the sum of N28m to him from the money allegedly siphoned from the EFCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter with the title, \u201cPre-action demand regarding your defamatory imputations against Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, in your online publication, titled, \u2018More trouble for Magu as new facts on re-looting of recovered funds emerge\u2019,\u201d threatened to institute a legal action against the newspaper should it fail to apologise to him and publish a retraction of the story on its front page within 48 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Olumide-Fusika stated in the letter that he received Falana\u2019s \u201cimmediate instruction\u201d to demand that \u201cyou (the newspaper\u2019s editor) acknowledge your wrongdoing, expressly admit that what you imputed against my client was false, and apologise for your unprofessionalism and the damage you have caused to him\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do hope that you will, within the next 48 hours, comply with this gentlemanly request by publication on the front page of your newspaper. Failing compliance, my instruction is to issue a Writ in the tort of defamation in order to afford you an opportunity to prove what you imputed against his my client\u2019s character,\u201d the letter added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The newspaper\u2019s story was based on a report published by NAN, which claimed to have obtained the final report of a prior presidential panel allegedly indicting Magu for being unable to account for the interest generated from N550bn cash recovered from 2015 to 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Olumide-Fusika stated in his pre-action letter that the newspaper, by its publication \u201cmeant and intended to mean and convey\u201d to its readership that Magu allegedly used a bureau de change operator to pass the sum of N28m to Falana in an alleged money laundering scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Falana\u2019s lawyer described the publication as \u201cdamning against my client because his entire career as a lawyer has been devoted to fighting human rights abuses and corruption in high and low places\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Approving vessels\u2019 auction to alleged suspects legal \u2013 Malami<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Sunday, justified his last year\u2019s auctioning approval to some operators in the oil industry to sell five sea vessels holding crude oil and diesel forfeited to the Federal Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The statement by Malami\u2019s Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Umar Gwandu, was reacting to Saturday PUNCH\u2019s story of how the AGF directed Omoh-Jay Nigeria Ltd. to dispose of the crude oil and diesel in four sea vessels through an open bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story which Sahara Reporters published with credit to Saturday PUNCH, disclosed that in another approval, the AGF mandated the firm to sell five vessels despite the fact that the firm and its Managing Director, Mr Jerome Itepu, stood trial at the Delta State High Court, Asaba, for allegedly stealing about 12,000 metric tonnes of crude oil loaded in a vessel, MT Akuada a.k.a. MT Kua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The allegedly stolen crude oil was valued at N384m in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The auctioneer was to get three per cent of the sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Malami said on Sunday said he committed no infraction by granting the auctioning approval to Omo-Jay and its officials even if they were being prosecuted for alleged theft of crude oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also said the firm having not been convicted, was presumed to be innocent of criminal allegations that might have been levelled against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added the firm being duly registered, could not be denied an opportunity to participate in the auction bidding process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His statement read in part, \u201cThe issue of interest to the public, of which a serious journalist needs to support the general public to know is whether Omoh-Jay being a duly registered company can be denied an opportunity to participate in the auction bidding process on a purported account that the company is standing trial (not convicted) by a competent court of the land if indeed as claimed by Sahara Reporters, the company is being criminally tried.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Ade Adesomoju and Oladimeji Ramon The suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Ibrahim Magu, could not give a proper account of missing 332 out of the 836 recovered properties …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[65,466,610],"class_list":["post-2183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polity-politics-governance","tag-corruption","tag-efcc","tag-ibrahim-magu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/towncryyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Malami-Magu-and-the-blues-of-anti-corruption-war-1-1024x688.jpg?resize=1024%2C688&ssl=1\")
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