EFCC chair, Magu, evades questions on Buratai’s Dubai houses
The Acting Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, on Tuesday evaded
questions on the recent calls for the probe of the Chief of Army Staff,
Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, for purchasing properties worth $1.5m in Dubai,
the United Arab Emirates.
Magu was departing the Rockview Classic
Hotel, in Abuja, venue of a one-day workshop on ‘Anti-corruption, ethics
of the legal profession and justice sector,’ when some journalists
approached him for an interview.
The event was co-organised by the Nigerian Bar Association and the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption.
Magu had adjusted himself to take
questions from the journalists but as soon as the first question
bordering on Buratai was asked, he sharply turned back and jumped into
his waiting car.
Incidentally, while speaking earlier at
the event, Magu had lamented various corrupt acts including a situation
where a civil servant paid as much as over N800m as legal fee to lawyer.
Magu queried how a civil servant could have legitimately earned as much as N800m to pay a lawyer.
This came few days after some prominent
legal practitioners, including Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), had urged
President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Buratai, if the Army chief failed to
voluntarily resign following the revelation that he purchased the
Dubai properties.
Magu had while speaking at the event had
said his commission would start going after lawyers who aid their
clients in laundering money.
He said the commission would not spare
anybody, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria, who were found to have
helped others to buy properties with stolen funds.
Other speakers at the event included the
Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, the Attorney General
of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami; and the
Chairman, PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN).
Magu said, “I don’t want to mention some
of our strategies, but we will start going after people now. If you are
involved in laundering money, we will go after you it doesn’t matter
who you are because the law does not respect anybody – whether you are
the EFCC chairman, whether you are SAN.
“Sooner or later we will look at how
people assist people to buy properties with stolen funds, how people
assist others to escape justice and we will go after them.
“But for now, I want to say, please,
join us in the fight against corruption to save this country so that our
children and grandchildren will have a greater Nigeria.”
He said the issue of human rights needed
to be de-emphasised in the ongoing war against corruption, as he urged
lawyers to ply their trade while placing the interest of the nation
above any other consideration.
Represented by a Justice of the Supreme
Court, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the CJN said some recent events had
called for self-assessment by players in the legal circles and justice
system.
The CJN said, “Indeed, recent events
within the profession have no doubt thrown up questions bordering on the
ethical content of our profession and justice system, as well as its
readiness to properly fight against corrupt practice.
“If charity, as they say begins at home, self appraisal must by necessity, start there too.
“This event calls for honest discourse
and impartial considerations on a wide range of issues- legislative,
fiscal, institutional and more importantly ethical, as affect the
conduct of our Justice system.”
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