IN a bid to ensure transparency and drive home the commission’s stance against corruption, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has ordered strict surveillance on the activities of operatives of the anti-corruption commission.
Magu’s order followed several complaints received from members of the public, over the manner in which the operatives handle some cases, while some of them exhibit corrupt tendencies while handling cases.
In view of these complaints, according to a very reliable source in the commission, Magu has ordered general reviews of cases decided upon during the tenure of the immediate past chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Lamorde.
In this regard, a team of reviewers, headed by a serving police officer, not attached to the commission, had been set up
“The acting chairman is not pleased with complaints from members of the public on the way operatives are handling some cases EFCC is investigating.
“This explains why Magu ordered a review of some cases investigated under the immediate past chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, with a view to ensuring that justice is done to people who felt they were badly treated by the commission,” the reliable source told the ReportersAtLarge.
The source added that Magu had warned that operatives found wanting in the course of discharging their duties would not only be sent packing from the anti-graft commission but also made to face the wrath of the law of the land.
The Sunday Tribune learnt that two operatives who were indicted by the Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who was investigated by EFCC following petition by PenCom staff that she was paying herself N600,000 monthly as salary, have been dismissed by the commission.
The operatives, it was learnt, were allegedly on the payroll of the PenCom Director-General in order to give her a soft landing in case of any eventualities but they failed to alert her before the bubble burst.
Anohu-Amazu, it was gathered, explained the role played by the operatives and were said to have been investigated and found wanting, which led to their dismissal from the commission.
It was further gathered that the commission is currently investigating a fraud case involving some operatives in order to know those involved in the case of a seized house, which was not listed as an exhibit in the record of the commission.
According to the Sunday Tribune source, the house of a staff member of Police Pension Service (name withheld) located at Gwarimpa in the Federation Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The source informed that the police pension staffer was roped into the recent N24billion pension scam at the police service for his refusal to cooperate in a dubious way with operatives investigating the case.
“This particular person, according to investigation, had acquired all his property before joining the service of the police pension because he was involved in agriculture and other businesses. But because he refused to cooperate in a dubious way with operatives investigating the case he was roped into the case.
“His problem started on investigators’ discovery that he sold a car at N8.5million to his boss. But because he had refused to ‘cooperate’ with operatives, he was alleged to have been involved in the police pension scam,” the source informed.
It was further revealed that the Gwarimpa house seized from the man was rented out but proceeds from the rent were going into private pockets for the past two years.
