The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it has commenced an investigation into a trending audio tape in which an operative, Mohammed Idris, revealed how the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, allegedly compromised graft cases.
In one of the multiple audio recordings obtained by Daily Nigerian, the EFCC operative was heard saying, “Malami now controls the EFCC. The commission is in his hands. Once Malami speaks, the account will be unfrozen. They are unfreezing suspects’ accounts, including the big cases.”
But the EFCC in a statement on Thursday, by its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said it would activate its internal mechanism to deal with the issues arising therefrom.
The statement titled, ‘Alleged AGF’s influence: EFCC investigates trending audio tape’, however, castigated Idris, a police officer seconded to the commission, describing him as “a compromised officer and fifth columnist.”
It stated, “Without prejudice to the outcome of the investigation, snippets of the audio recording clearly showed an abysmally compromised officer dropping names to ingratiate his benefactor, a relative of a crime suspect.
“By the alleged action, the said officer is no more than a corrupt fifth columnist with scant regard for the values of the commission.
“The action is contemptuous of the established Standard Operating Procedure of the EFCC. Such professional indiscretion has no place in the new EFCC.
“The commission encourages citizens who encounter any such unprofessional conduct by personnel of the EFCC to report to the commission in support of our quest to build a better agency.”
“Reporting such conducts has been made easy by the Eagle Eye App, a financial crimes reporting application which was launched earlier in the year,” Uwujaren further stated.
The anti-graft agency claimed its operations were guided by established professional precepts “which do not support the kind of discretion that could allow for manipulation by external actors.”
Source PUNCH
