Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has expressed his love for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, method of corruption investigation and recommended that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and or the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, should conclude investigations before arrest.

Speaking weekend at the Food and Energy Security in Africa Conference held in Lagos  on ‘the Rule of Law and attracting International Investment towards Food and Energy Security in Africa’ , Fagbemi said the FBI would have done diligently investigation before going after the suspects.

“My attitude has always been that when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,  or  the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC,  is investigating anybody, I prefer the FBI model of the institution. “

The Attorney General of the Federation said while FBI is conducting investigations that nobody hears anything, “but when they call at your doorstep, you have to open the door. Your rights are there. You call your, like they say in America, your attorney.

“You call your attorney, but I bet you what you will ask your attorney to do is to reduce your sentence, to negotiate how your sentence will be reduced.  When they are doing it, nobody hears anything.”

He said the attitude of fighting corruption by saying a big fish has been caught without proper investigation should be discouraged.

Fagbemi said proper investigation before media trial is a more civilized way of fighting corruption.

 “So if you don’t hear that anybody has been arrested, if you don’t hear that anybody has been invited, it is not because actions are negative and not going on. It’s just that I believe that that is a more civilized approach of waging war against corruption.”

“And that will also significantly reduce the impression even outside the country. I have made this point that I don’t believe that the situation is as bad as people are painting it.  This issue of social media, they would have bastardized and abused the suspects before the truth came out.

“So it is important to say this. If you get one, if you want to crush the corrupt official, please do so, but ensure that he does not get off the shackles of the law.

“It is by so doing that we can help ourselves and help the country. We all have a duty; a civic responsibility to report incidents of corruption, and it is also the statutory duty of the anti-corruption agencies to ensure thorough investigation.”

While noting that corruption is everywhere in the world, he said the government is doing enough to curtail it

“First, I start with an opening statement. Corruption is everywhere in the world. So when I hear people talk of corruption, corruption, as it exists in Africa, it exists in Europe, in Asia, but I will limit my question to this one now.

“In matters of corruption in the energy sector,  we know the effect is like a cancer. Unless you are very careful, you may not be able to stop it. But we are doing our utmost to ensure that this is nipped in the bud, or at least reduced to the bare minimum.”

Fagbemi disclosed that laws have been enacted in the fight against corruption.

“For instance, we have witnessed the promulgation into law of critical legislations like the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 and Corruption Act also in 2022.”

He added that the “work of the various anti-corruption agencies, particularly the IPCC and EFCC are also things that we feel, if properly and effectively pursued, will also reduce corruption significantly and to ensure the process is respected, protected, and corruption is deterred.

“it’s not everything that IPCC or EFCC is doing that will be advertised. I am aware that they are more involved now in prevention while not abandoning corruption.”

The Minister of Justice noted that the EFCC and IPCC, in collaboration with other agencies, have investigated corruption allegations, and they have performed well.

“For example, in 2022, a total of 3,700, almost 4,000 convictions were secured. This evidence is efficient on the part of these institutions to address the current corruption.

“Combating corruption is one of government’s priorities, and that’s why government has been doing it.”

Fagbemi added, “I believe, so concerted efforts of government against corruption will continue for months in terms of stealing, executive interference. This will continue to signal foreign investors that Nigeria is serious about combating corruption.”

The Attorney General of the Federation also disclosed that the government will be tackling the issues of conflicting judicial decisions with technology.

“I cannot run away from the fact that we have had conflicting decisions. But I want to assure you that that was in the past. You will not hear of any conflicting decisions these days. And, you know, certainty and predictability are the two pillars upon which judicial decisions stand.

“It must be predictable. It must be certain. So when there is conflict, then there is a problem.”That is now being addressed.”

He added that conflicting decisions are mostly in political decisions.

“When cases are filed, numerous cases are filed almost simultaneously across all the divisions of the court.

“This one does not know what is going on there. So that accounts for that. But with technology that is being put in place, if any decision has been rendered along a particular area of the law, then it is easy to detect.”

[Vanguard]