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Group Wants Corrupt Persons Who Return Looted Funds Punished

Voluntary return of looted funds or option of plea bargain is not deterrent enough for persons indicted to have looted Nigeria’s funds in the war … Continue reading Group Wants Corrupt Persons Who Return Looted Funds Punished


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Former DPO,10-year jail term,Voluntary return of looted funds or option of plea bargain is not deterrent enough for persons indicted to have looted Nigeria’s funds in the war against corruption, a group, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, said on Friday.

Giving instances of persons that they want to face punishments, the group claims that the former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr Abdullahi Dikko, had returned one billion Naira to the Federal Government and insisted that voluntary return of loot was not enough.

‘Go And Sin No More’

In a statement, the Executive Chairman of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), Mr Debo Adeniran, said: “It is very imperative for Nigerians to understand the details of what constitute the ‘plea bargain’ being offered to some suspects of corruption or the ‘go and sin no more’ attitude which is apparently being applied as in Dikko and some other suspected corruption criminals’ cases”.

The group claimed that in recent developments, the former Comptroller-General was reported to have returned one billion Naira to the FG, just as a former Minister of State for Defense, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has signed an undertaking with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to return 480 million Naira as ‘ill-gotten gains’ under their watch while in office.

Out of the 480 million Naira he has returned 100 million Naira to the Federal Government.

The ex-Custom boss has been under investigation by the EFCC for allegedly diverting about 40 billion Naira during his administration as head of Customs between August 2009 and August 2015, while Obanikoro’s case was about his alleged role in the diversion of 4.7 billion Naira from the imprest account of the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Mr Adeniran expressed dissatisfaction with the developments given the gravity of the crimes in question.

He said: “Our Coalition has always insisted on punishing culprits of corruption to serve as deterrent to other corruption criminals and the potentially corrupt persons in the country.

“The non-application of punitive measures against persons guilty of corruption would make the whole anti-corruption war a huge joke, a waste of time, energy and resources.

“We are aware that part of the conditions for plea bargain, given to accused persons, who are penitent, are forfeiting of properties and pleading guilty. We acknowledge the necessity to differentiate between penitent corruption criminals and recalcitrant ones, but we insist that the return of loots is not far-reaching enough if the war against corruption will achieve enduring success.

“Our position is that, it is correct to treat those who admit their guilt voluntarily and those that make the state to expend resources energy and time before their conviction is achieved differently, we agree to that extent.

“But our position is that those that opt for plea bargain should nonetheless not be allowed to go scot-free; they should hence be stripped of all their properties and monies as well as honours that could have been bestowed on some of them – they should be made to start life anew. All of their material possessions should be deemed as proceeds of corruption and therefore confiscated by the state. Then they can be told to ‘go and sin no more'”.

‘Jail According To Loot Size’

Continuing, he said: “As for the recalcitrant ones of should of course be made to face the full constitutional and judicial consequences of their crimes. They should be put in jail according to size of their loots, even up to life imprisonment”.

The CACOL is also suggesting life imprisonment for convicts that stole any amount above one billion Naira, insisting that they should be made to work diligently for their own upkeep via whatever skills they possess previously or has been able to learn behind the bars.

“They should be used as objects to educate the young, the youth and all when they go on excursion to the prisons, seeing former corrupt leaders in such situation will certainly serve to deter the potentially corrupt,” the group highlighted.

It further advised that whatever assets traced to such convicts should be deemed to be proceeds of corruption and confiscated by the Nigerian state.