When was efcc founded

It is reported that he had been actively involved in the trials of many bank directors. Thereby, the Commission is enabled to prevent, investigate, prosecute and penalise economic and financial crimes.

The agency is also charged with the responsibility of executing the provisions of other laws and regulations that are related to economic and financial crimes so as to sanitize the system. By Section 7 2 of the Establishment Act ; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is charged with the responsibility of enforcing provisions of the law relating to economic and financial crimes.

These are:. The EFCC is a Nigerian agency given the responsibility of handling all financial crimes, money laundering, corruption and embezzlement within the country. However, with a global outlook, it is expected that the agency helps in contributing its own quota to the global fight against corruption.

In addition to this, the EFCC is the main agency of the Nigerian government responsible for fighting terrorism. Out of those cases, seven defendants—charged in —died or had their case dismissed; [] two of the trials, at this writing, had not yet begun; [] and only one case had resulted in a conviction.

In the view of many ICPC critics, the institution has been consistently hobbled by lethargic and deeply conservative leadership. This has produced a very narrow pool of candidates for the job, many of whom have already retired from public service. CCB chairman Sam Saba says that the bureau focuses its attention on the asset declarations of high-level officials and officials who are the subject of public petitions alleging financial misconduct.

That focus is a sensible one, but Saba acknowledges that even there his bureau makes little progress. Saba told Human Rights Watch he visited the speaker of the House of Representatives in late or early to urge passage of this legislation. This new law could provide an alternative—albeit indirect and potentially complicated—way to force disclosure of this information. The CCB has displayed similar lethargy in finding innovative ways to cooperate with other arms of government.

In the end, the CCB has had little impact in keeping corrupt politicians out of public office. In the April elections, 15 politicians who had been arraigned by the EFCC on corruption charges ran for office, seemingly unencumbered by the CCB. The case was eventually withdrawn by the attorney general in without any public explanation. The EFCC was created in in part due to international pressure to address pervasive economic and financial crimes that plagued Nigeria, and Western governments—including the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union—have provided substantial assistance in technical support and capacity building to the EFCC.

The US government has been outspoken, both publicly and—as the WikiLeaks cables have revealed—privately on the issue of government corruption in Nigeria. Despite strong rhetoric and assistance by some donors, critics argue that these same governments have been much less willing tackle corruption by going after corrupt Nigerian politicians and financial institutions in the West where they launder their funds, either through criminal prosecutions, asset forfeitures, or visa bans.

The United Kingdom is the one country that has moved aggressively to prosecute high-level Nigerian officials for money laundering.

The most successful agency has been a unit in the Metropolitan Police Service that targets international money laundering. Funded in part by the UK Department for International Development, the unit has brought money laundering charges against three former Nigerian governors—Joshua Dariye, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and James Ibori see cases referred to above.

In May Ibori was extradited from Dubai to London where, at this writing, he was awaiting trial for money laundering. The US government has been less proactive on prosecuting corrupt foreign politicians. Despite strong rhetoric by the US officials on corruption in Nigeria, US prosecutors have brought no criminal charges against any senior-level Nigerian politicians. Former Rivers State governor Peter Odili has been apparently free to transfer his funds to the US, and by the end of was one of the largest donors to Lincoln University, the oldest historically black college in the United States.

In recent years, however, the US government has taken some preliminary steps to improve international accountability for high-level corruption. In July the US Department of Justice announced a new anti-kleptocracy initiative across a range of federal agencies. This would be the first case of its kind to grow out of the new initiative. If President Goodluck Jonathan is serious about fighting corruption during his first full term in office, he should signal his support for these proposals and work to push them forward without delay.

Doing so would also embolden many law enforcement officials and others who until now have not been sure which side the government is really on in the fight against corruption.

Specifically, the president should:. At a minimum, the position should enjoy the same tenure security as the ICPC chairman, who the president cannot remove from office without the assent of a two-thirds majority of the Senate—and even then only on grounds of incapacity or misconduct. Human Rights Watch recommends that President Jonathan consult with legislators, civil society leaders, and officials of the ICPC and EFCC to determine whether still more strenuous protections are necessary—such as constituting a panel that includes civil society participation to approve the removal of the head of the EFCC.

The amendment should also bar the head of any other agency other than the police, from which a future EFCC head might be seconded, from carrying out similar actions. In principle, there are persuasive arguments to be made in favor of appointing a career law enforcement official as EFCC chairman. The new law guarantees the public the right to access public records.

It may provide an alternative way to force disclosure of this information. In a similar manner, President Jonathan should push the National Assembly to pass legislation without delay that specifically guarantees public access to the asset declarations of public officials. As discussed above, critics of the ICPC have long complained that the institution has been hobbled by leadership that is too conservative and unwilling to deploy its full range of powers to fight high-level corruption.

Regardless of whether those critiques are fair, the time to get the right leadership in place for the ICPC is now. Former chairman Emmanuel Ayoola stepped down in and at the time of writing President Jonathan had yet to replace him. But in the short term there are steps the Jonathan administration could take to improve the courts that would also impact their handling of corruption cases:.

Experts interviewed by Human Rights Watch attributed the unusually functional process to reforms of the Lagos State court system and to the dedication and integrity of presiding judge Olubunmi Oyewole, who at the time was designated by the state court system as one of several judges handling EFCC cases—the only state court system to do so.

Lagos State is also the only state court system to have modernized its rules of criminal procedure and evidence. And in the George trial, Justice Oyewole refused to halt the trial for any interlocutory appeals, ruling that appeals would have to wait until after the trial was completed. It was reviewed and edited by Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director; Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher; Clive Baldwin, senior legal advisor; and Babatunde Olugboji, deputy program director.

Additional research, editorial and production assistance was provided by Darcy Milburn, business and human rights associate, and Marianna Enamoneta, Africa division associate. The report was prepared for publication by Kathy Mills, publications coordinator; Anna Lopriore, creative manager; and Fitzroy Hepkins, mail manager. Human Rights Watch expresses its gratitude to the individuals and organizations who offered their assistance in facilitating this research and who have generously supported its work on Nigeria.

Human Rights Watch interviews with diplomats names withheld , Abuja, April ; and telephone interview with diplomat name withheld , June 18, This includes collecting and verifying the asset declaration forms of public officials and referring cases to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for disciplinary action.

See Okey Muogbo et al. Human Rights Watch interviews with western diplomatic officials, Abuja, February 17, In , the Central Bank under Governor Lamido Sanusi had determined that five major banks, including Oceanic Bank, were close to insolvency, a scandal that threatened economic mayhem and shattered confidence in the entire banking sector. PEPs, for example, include local government chairmen and state government officials; this report does not examine those cases.

Given that the EFCC does not appear to have a complete list of PEPs it has investigated since , such a comparison might in any case be impossible to make. Balogun was convicted in December in a plea bargain agreement. See section below on convictions.

Alamieyeseigha was convicted in July in a plea bargain agreement. See section below, A System that Rewards Corruption. The EFCC filed money laundering charges against Dariye in December , but the Federal High Court threw out the case on grounds that the governor was protected by immunity from prosecution while in office. Igbinedion was convicted in December in a plea bargain agreement.

The Court of Appeal, in March , dismissed the charges against Aduku. George was convicted in January A new branch of the federal court was then set up in Asaba, Delta State, to hear the case, and the judge dismissed all charges against Ibori without letting the case go to trial. Audu filed a similar suit with the Federal High Court in Abuja which was also dismissed in See Prince Abubakar Audu vs. The Federal High Court, however, threw out the case on ground that the governor was protected by immunity from prosecution while in office.

See also Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, sec. The trial judge in the Olabode George case reportedly made use of these provisions of the EFCC Act as a basis for forcing the trial to move speedily through his court. See text box below , The Bode George Trial. In February the EFCC filed new criminal charges against Igbinedion, sealing off two palatial estates in Abuja that belong to the former governor.

But in May , the Federal High Court dismissed the case, ruling that the new charges would amount to double jeopardy. Justice I. At this writing, no date had been set to hear the appeal. It should be noted, however, that some have criticized legislators such as Nasir and his counterpart in the Senate, Sola Akinyede, for failing to live up to their own responsibility to ensure robust oversight of the EFCC.

See also Appropriation Amendment Bill The Code of Conduct for Public Officers in the Nigerian Constitution requires all public officials, including all police officers, to file asset declarations upon taking office, every four years thereafter, and at the end of their term in office. See Appropriation Amendment Bill See text box above , Ribadu: Then and Now.

The project has also helped build the operational capacity, efficiency and performance of the justice sector by jointly funding Judicial Research Centres JRC with the pilot state governments. Five years into implementation, the project has been able to aid national counterpart institutions in making significant achievements.

The project has achieved its various outputs and the activities finalized in November A handing over period to the beneficiary has enhanced the local ownership and ensured sustainability. To date, the EFCC has received more than petitions and achieved more than convictions.

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission A political tool or effective anti-corruption body? Research question How can Nigeria's watchdog avoid political capture and prevent corruption? The corruption issue The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC of Nigeria has been instrumental in charging and prosecuting senior political leaders and businessmen with political links, as well as in recovering and repatriating significant stolen resources for the Nigerian state.

This project is now completed.