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Chairman,
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Larmorde
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) is set to probe former president, Goodluck Jonathan.
The Punch reports that EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, had already directed that all petitions against former public officers at the federal level should be forwarded to him to be acted upon.
Investigations have however revealed that former ministers, special advisers, heads of parastatals and those of other Federal Government agencies would be invited for interrogation by the EFCC in a few weeks from now. The Punch learnt that EFCC would focus on those whose establishments attracted huge allocations from the Federal Government when former President Jonathan was in power.
“I
am not aware of anybody who has been summoned or interrogated by the commission.
Those to be interrogated would be determined by the gravity of the allegations
against them
as contained in the petitions. “What happened last week was that a directive was issued to move all petitions against public office holders under the former President to the office of the Chairman. “The files will be studied and assigned to units to handle the investigations. It is based on the petitions that people will be summoned. “Most likely next week, action would be taken on those petition,” a source told The Punch.
The Punch reports that EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, had already directed that all petitions against former public officers at the federal level should be forwarded to him to be acted upon.
Investigations have however revealed that former ministers, special advisers, heads of parastatals and those of other Federal Government agencies would be invited for interrogation by the EFCC in a few weeks from now. The Punch learnt that EFCC would focus on those whose establishments attracted huge allocations from the Federal Government when former President Jonathan was in power.
as contained in the petitions. “What happened last week was that a directive was issued to move all petitions against public office holders under the former President to the office of the Chairman. “The files will be studied and assigned to units to handle the investigations. It is based on the petitions that people will be summoned. “Most likely next week, action would be taken on those petition,” a source told The Punch.
However,
when the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwajaren, was
contacted on Monday, he said there was nothing like that directive. He said: “I am not aware of the directive you are
talking about. It is not to my knowledge.”
Reacting
to the development, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, said the party was not afraid of a
probe. He said the Goodluck administration has nothing to hide.
In
his words: “I am sure Nigerians still
remember that it was because of PDP’s desire to deal with the scourge of
corruption that our government under the leadership of President Olusegun
Obasanjo established the EFCC and the ICPC. The records are there. “All we are
asking for is that there must be fairness and justice. Whatever probe they want
to carry out must have respect for the rule of law, good conscience and the
fear of God. “Such a probe must not be carried out based on vendetta or simply
because somebody does not like the name or the face of somebody.”