Onwuka Nzeshi
28 November 2008
Abuja — Chairman of the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri, yesterday said the change in tactics in the fight against corruption since she assumed duty is responsible for the feeling that the fight had become slow or even lost.
Waziri, who met with the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs and Narcotics at the National Assembly yesterday, said unknown to many Nigerians, the war on corruption was still on because criminal elements in the country have not stopped the act of looting public treasury to fulfil their own selfish desires.
He said even in the midst of the current global economic recession when other countries are putting heads together to resolve the financial crisis, Nigerians have been involved in looting funds and exporting such abroad to purchase choice properties in places such as the United States of America, Dubai and even neighbouring Ghana.
She said given the financial meltdown, prices of properties had crashed abroad and these Nigerians have now seen it as another opportunity to launder their ill-gotten wealth. According to her, the focus of the war against finacial crime since she came on board had shifted from chasing criminals all over the place to monitoring prospective criminals and ensuring that they do not loot the teasury and give the EFCC the herculean task of fighting to recover looted funds locally or offshores.
Waziri confessed that the job of fighting financial crime has not been easy, given the fact that several cases charged to court have remained in court for more than two years and pleaded for the understanding of the Nigerian public, adding that there is only a fraction of the job that could be done by the EFCC while the real job of adjudication and convicting offenders where possible lies with the courts.
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