FIVE years after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) appealed against the perpetual injunction granted in favour of former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili, the anti-graft agency is yet to get a hearing date, Mr. Kayode Oladele, the Chief of Staff to EFCC chair Ibrahim Lamorde said yesterday.
Oladele spoke in Lagos at a workshop on financial and economic crimes reportage organised for reporters by the commission.
He decried the frustrations the EFCC go through as a result of the lapses in the criminal justice system, just as he blamed the judiciary for taking advantage of those lapses to favour suspects.
“Immediately the permanent order was given, we quickly appealed it at the Appeal Court, Port Harcourt Division. But five years after filing the appeal, we have not been given a hearing date.
“We feel that any case that involves public interest as such should not have been so treated by the court. In a case that involves corruption, how can you grant a permanent injunction of not being prosecuted? It is as if someone is being shielded from prosecution?” he said.
Oladele urged reporters to make the judiciary account for delays in prosecution, stressing the need for journalists to utilise the Freedom of Information Act.
According to him, the EFCC has put in a lot of efforts in combating corruption, noting that many have gone unnoticed because they do not involve politicians.
“Our mandate is very wide and like I said earlier, we have filed over 300 cases since the beginning of this year but because it does not involve politically exposed persons, not many people are talking about them.
“The EFCC handles over 8000 petitions in a year, some of them we refer to other agencies that we feel are also competent to handle them, those that are frivolous, we discard and those who have established a case against, we charge to court,” Oladele said.
Source: The Nation
