Delay in EFCC trials: Who is to blame?

Delay in EFCC trials: Who is to blame?

By Felix Adewumi

Background

To some public office holders, the fear of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is the beginning of wisdom. This has been the case when former President Olusegun Obasanjo saddled Mr Nuhu Ribadu with the EFCC duty.

The uproar that followed the arrest and subsequent arraignment of former Inspector general of Police, Mr Tafa Balogun after Ribadu brought him to the court in handcuff showed the resolve of the anti graft commission to track down corrupt public office holder.

Perhaps more interesting was the rate at which the anti graft commission clampdown on some former governors where Dr Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Chimaroke Nnamani, (Enugu), Orji Kalu (Abia), Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo), Chief Lucky Igbinedion and Joshua Dariye (Plateau) were all arraigned.

However, following the removal of Ribadu as the EFCC boss and the subsequent replacement of his position with Mrs Farida Waziri, the commission experience little lull in which the commission concentrated on the arraignment and subsequent sentencing of Chief Olabode George, a PDP chieftain while the Femi Fani Kayode suit drag on to the Court of Appeal.

EFCC finally had another field day when they were made to arrest and arraign some bank chiefs affected by the Sanusi’s restructuring exercise.

With this renewed sense of responsibility, the commission started a manhunt for some of the bank chiefs, while some surrendered (Cecelia Ibru, Francis Atuche, Charles Ojo and others); Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental Bank took to his heel only to later surrender himself to EFCC 11 months after.

Convictions and recovery

Since the emergence of Mrs. Farida Waziri as EFCC chairman, in addition to the high profile cases she inherited from her predecessor. Ribadu, her commission has recorded reasonable success in high profile arrests of top politicians, captains of industries, Directors-General of federal institutions. Her only constrain is that there has not been any tangible conviction to show for it due to manipulations and frustration of the cases by those arraigned when they are granted bail.

At a media chat once, Mr Femi Babafemi, EFCC spokesman pointed out that about 25 persons have so far been convicted just within the short duration of Waziri’s stay in office and not less than N3 billion naira had been recovered by the commission.

The EFCC spokesman pointed out that some high public office holders like Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, Chief Kenny martins, Bode George, Femi Fani-Kayode, Chief Bablola Aborishade and other members of the Petroleum Equipment Foundation who are considered as untouchables, had been charged for corrupt enrichment by the commission.

According to the EFCC spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi, not only has the trial of some governors continued in the courts, the recent arraignment of former governors, Michael Boatmang and Boni Haruna, was a clear testimony that the bar of the anti-corruption has been raised.

However, with the celebrity status of these arrests and arraignment of these men and women of power for corruption and money laundering by the EFCC, the fears that there is the possibility of manipulations and frustration of their trials and the subsequent long court adjournments, many Nigerians are wondering if this is not the end of the some of those cases.

The fears of these Nigerians have their roots in the country’s recent history, before the end of the last administration, several EFCC and ICPC reports had indicted a number of ex-governors. The amount of funds the EFCC traced to the former governors was mind-blowing. In 2006, the commission claimed to have recovered more than $5billion.

Apart from stealing from monthly allocations, some of the governors reportedly compounded their states’ financial crises by taking questionable loans from banks.

But over two years after some of these former governors were charged to court by the anti-graft agency and granted bail by the courts, they still walk the streets freely and travel abroad unencumbered and given their clout, they have the capacity to manipulate and frustrate their trials.

To this end, these Nigerians are worried that the bail granted the bank chiefs may have spelled doom for the case. They also wonder if the Justice Dan Abutu-led Federal High Court and the EFCC will record any tangible conviction from the charges preferred against them.

EFCC as a cog in the wheel of the trial?

Perhaps one very important facts is that EFCC had not also helped matter in some of those cases as they tends to bring about the delay thus allowing the matter to delay unnecessarily

A clear example was the Fani- Kayode’s matter which the EFCC once celebrated. No sooner as Fani –Kayode got his bail, that EFCC sought to tender computer printouts of statements of accounts belonging to the former minister to prove that the former minister committed financial crimes.

This moved was opposed by Fani-Kayode’s lawyer arguing that computer printouts are not admissible in evidence and Justice Ramat Mohammed, the presiding judge ruled that the computer printout is not admissible in evidence.

However, not satisfied with the ruling of the Federal High Court, the EFCC appealed and in June 2009, Justice Ramat adjourned the N230 million money laundering trial involving Fani-Kayode indefinitely to allow for the determination of the appeal.

After almost a year, the Appellate Court overturned the decision of the lower court and upheld the appeal of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, by declaring that computer printout is admissible in evidence.

With this decision, everyone thought the coast is now clear for the continuation of the trial of Fani-Kayode, but the decision only gave him another tool to fight with and he headed for the Supreme Court to argue his case, thus the Fani-Kayode matter has spent close to two years without real trial even beginning.

Another situation is the way in which most of the cases are being handled with EFCC made to look like a disjointed group on numerous occasions.

Mr Olalekan Ojo, a Lagos Lawyer passed the buck of the blame on EFCC, according to him, in most cases, like during the trial of Nnamani, Fayose, Fani-Kayode, Bode George and others, EFCC came to court to inform the court that they are not ready to go on either because their witness is not around, their lead counsel is not available, they need to file a reply to an application or they need to file for extension of time.

Ojo, who famously defended Lateef Shofolahan, a former aide to the late Mrs Kudirat Abiola said it will not be correct to blame lawyers and judges in this situation.

“There are situations where adjournments were brought about by the absence of witnesses, I know of a case which suffered adjournment more than eight times due to the absence of just one witness” he said

However, Mr Foluso Fayokun, former Lagos Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) chairman, think lawyers have not really helped matters in this situation

“These days, lawyers are involved in all sorts of tricks. That have not helped the integrity of the legal profession, you find lawyers filing applications that the trials should not go on just to frustrate the suit.

According to him, lawyers file stay of proceedings, application for bail, challenge the charge itself and if they are ruled out, they go to the appellate court.

He pointed out that a lawyer duty is to ensure that his client’s case is resolved as quickly as possible so that it can be determined whether he is guilty or not and if he is guilty he should quickly serve his term and go about with his life.

“But most time what we find is lawyers who try to frustrate the hearing of the matter and that will not serve the best interest of the clients and even the legal profession. It does not give the profession a good name and shows that we don’t really know what we are doing” he said

Referring to Major General Ishaya Bamaiyi’s matter which suffers many adjournments because of the lawyers, Fayokun however faulted the judges for not talking their stands when it comes to treating frivolous applications.

“The judges are supposed to manage their courts and not allow flimsy application. If a lawyer is not willing to go on with his matter, the judge can proceed; there is no rule which says he can’t proceed if a lawyer refused to file his application.

On the part of the EFCC, he said if they are not ready with their case and failed to produce their witnesses or file the necessary papers; the judge should just strike out the matter and tell them to come back when they are ready.

“As far as I am concern it is the duty of the judge to say when they are ready they should bring the accused back. The court should not just be congested with cases, the lawyers should manage their courts in a way that they don’t waste their time on frivolities, if the lawyers want to engage in rigmarole exercises, the judge should not condone it, it is the duty of the judge to make sure that he does not grant unnecessary indulgence” he said

Need for Special Courts on Corruption?

Recently, the EFCC boss had at a public hearing on the Bill to amend the EFCC Act to empower it to refer cases to special courts on corruption, said the delay in the trial of suspects charged for corruption in the law courts was frustrating the operations of the commission.

She advocated the establishment of a special court to try corrupt officials to facilitate the commissions' operations. According to her the slow judicial process in the regular courts was a major challenge to the commission.

According to her in most cases, people are arrested and arraigned before the court only to be released the next day on bail.

“Honestly, we are getting frustrated because the man you picked up looks you in the face and tells you that you are wasting your time” Waziri admitted.

Waziri blamed the slow judicial processes Nigerian courts are known for and the bureaucratic and legalistic bottlenecks of the judicial system of this country for the main reason behind the setback in the quick arraignment and conviction of some of the suspects.

According to her, “the legal process takes quite a lot of money, energy, time, and deployment of personnel to get a single conviction. To speed up prosecution of our cases, the National Assembly should begin the process of creating special courts with the requisite jurisdiction bringing to book, public and private officials involved in corrupt acts", Waziri declared.

She has not failed to tell all that cares to listen that the court is responsible for the delay in the trial of some former governors and other corrupt officials her commission had arraigned.

She had argued that the judiciary was slowing down the anti-graft war, as the rulings and other processes used by the accused persons to escape prosecution gives the impression that the EFCC is not living up to expectation.

“You know very well that their cases are in courts very many of them, about 12 of them. I have been crying out that the cases are being stalled in courts. They get lawyers and pay them heavily. They use the judicial system that is slow by nature to thwart the cases because they first of all challenge the jurisdiction of the high court and then go to the Court of Appeal to ask for stay of execution and then it is neither here nor there”. She said at a recent forum.

According to her, even cases that Ribadu took to court were still there, adding that it was worrisome.

Scoring her commission high, Waziri said, “Those people who do not like my face will say EFCC is not working. I cannot investigate, take the witnesses to court, exhibits are tendered, and the cases are adjourned. I cannot do anything more than I have done. A special court for EFCC-related offences will take us away from the undue legalities that many brilliant lawyers have capitalized on to twist the hand of the courts and the commission”.

However, Justice Abutu, chief Judge of Federal High Court, during his screening before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters faulted Waziri’s request for the establishment of a special court to try corrupt officials in the country.

Abutu argued that setting up special courts to try corruption and financial crimes cases would neither solve the problem of delayed justice nor boost the crusade against corruption in the country. Instead, he said the solution lies in the amendment of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution to reduce delays in the trial of cases.

“A solution cannot be found in creating a new court for EFCC. A solution can be found to the amendment of the provisions of the constitution to reduce delays in the trial of cases". He said

Instead, Abutu blamed delay in the trials to the various applications for interlocutory injunctions and stay of execution of court judgments, calling for the need to amend these provisions in the constitution that cause these delays.

“Even if the special court is established and it decides on a case, what will you do if an application for stay of execution is granted? There are too many interlocutory injunctions in the country" he argued.

one cannot forget the role played by the Federal Government too when Michael Aondoakaa, former Attorney general of the federation (AGF) deliberately or inadvertently, equivocating on sensitive issues which have enabled those charged and arraigned by the EFCC, including the former governors to capitalise on.

There was an occasion when the AGF directed the commission to always obtain clearance from his Ministry before prosecuting any accused persons in court.

Conclusion

Many EFCC cases are still pending at the court while the commission hope to still arraign more (Prof Ndi Onyuike, former NSE boss) when the green light is given, but there is the real need to address issue of delay in the trials if the commission hope ot achieve meaningful progress.

CBN absolves self from N50bln ATM fraud suit …….. We are all in it……. says Bank

CBN absolves self from N50bln ATM fraud suit …….. We are all in it……. says Bank By: Felix Adewumi The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has made moves to get its name struck out from a N50 billion class action filed by some Nigerians who claimed to be victims of authorised ATM withdrawals against all the 24 banks in Nigeria and Interswitch Nigeria limited and the Apex bank. In the suit filed before Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court, Lagos, as a class action by Mr Tochukwu Onyuike from the Punuka Attorney and Associate chambers on behalf of the members who are victims of unauthorised ATM withdrawals, the plaintiffs wants the court to give an order directing the banks, CBN and Interswitch to pay the sum of N50 billion as general damages for the withdrawals However, the Apex bank through Chief Theo Nkire, its counsel, brought an application before the court wanting it to strike out its name from the suit because the plaintiff has not complied with the pre-condition for bringing it into the suit as required by S.46A of the CBN Act. The apex bank contended that none of the plaintiffs evidence show any wrong doing against the apex bank as the closest the plaintiffs came to linking the CBN to their claim was that the Apex bank have failed in its regulatory duty to promote monetary stability and sound finance system in relation to electronic money withdrawals. CBN argued that the present action have brought no evidence of any wrongdoing against it and the plaintiffs cannot under the Nigerian law bring an action against it unless they show evidence of bad faith against as a precondition for their action. In a swift reaction to the application, Bank PHB, represented by Barrister Joseph Olowo, its counsel, who claimed not to have been served with the application of CBN argued that the CBN cannot seek to absolved itself from any complicity since the Apex bank is a party to the suit. “We are all in it together, we will swim, sink or win it together, the Apex bank cannot try to leave us to face the suit alone, if it did not want to be a party, we must all be carried along and agree on it together” the counsel said. Justice Tsoho has however adjourned till October 12, 2010 to hear the application of CBN while also adjourning till July 26, 2010 to rule on an earlier application by the plaintiffs to bring in additional witness. In the statement of claim of the plaintiffs, they had also demanded for the sum of N2.5 million being the joint value of the sum lost by them at four of the banks as well as N100 million as the cost of litigation and N10 million as cost of providing appropriate notice to the defendants and administering the class action for their benefit. The plaintiffs who were represented by Miss Daba West, a civil servant with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Miss Nwajiagah Omeruo, a consultant, Mr Tochukwu Onyuike, a lawyer and Mr Sydney Aguwamba, a fashion designer representing all Nigerians who have been victims of unauthorised ATM withdrawals. Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, United Bank of Africa Plc, Bank PHB and Intercontinental Bank Plc were chosen as representative of the all 24 banks and any decision taken against the four banks affects the 24 banks as well as the CBN and Interswitch. They had sought a declaration that the defendants are liable to Nigerians for the losses and damages occasioned by the negligence of the defendants in relation to the provision of debit card services. Besides, they had sought a declaration that the defendants are strictly liable for any damages or losses caused to them by reason of the use of the debit cards offered to them by the defendants. More importantly, they had sought a declaration that the four banks are representative defendants of the class of defendants being those designing manufacturing supplying and offering of debit card services. Moreover, the plaintiffs sought a declaration that CBN failed in its regulatory duty to promote monetary stability and sound financial system in relation to the electronic money withdrawals. According to the plaintiff, since the introduction of the ATM in 2007, Nigerians have at all times had their inclination towards its use as they have build their daily living around the use of such cards and have always done so with the daily limit withdrawal of N60,000.00. However, they averred that at various time, they had went to make withdrawals from ATM in the usual practice but were declined by the ATM for non-availability of funds despite the fact that their accounts was funded in excess of N300,000.00 at the time of the withdrawals. According to them, in each of the occasion, after their experience, they had requested from the banks for their statements of accounts and discovered to their dismay that their accounts had been tampered with unauthorised and illegal withdrawals in rapid succession made from different ATM cash machines thereby reducing the account to zero balance. The plaintiffs contended that the banks had been negligent in their duties as commercial banks and service provider in safeguarding the plaintiff’s funds through installation of security software in total protection of the plaintiff’s fund and this is the duty ought to be observed at all time. Moreover, the plaintiffs had argued that the defendants owed then a duty of care as regard the protection of their fund by providing security mechanisms towards the safe use of the debit cards. According to the plaintiffs, the defendants have failed to take all reasonable and effective measures whether by installation of any software or any part of the information technological devices to install devices to protect the plaintiffs’ funds from unusual, unauthorised and fraudulent withdrawals. The plaintiffs also contended that the defendants failed to enhance their ATM systems to detect and retain clone cards when used as it is the standard practice all over the world and had also failed to realise the hazardous nature of offering debit card by not taking all reasonable steps to ensure that the ATM do not release funds more than N60,000.00 daily. While adding that the defendants failed to provide debit cards with the chip and pin technology which operates against unauthorised withdrawal as done in other countries, the plaintiffs added that the negligence of the defendants have caused Nigerians to suffer financial losses, physical trauma, emotional distress, loss of reputation and severe personal unrest.

So where are the promo Winners?

So where are the promo Winners?

By Felix Olu Adewumi

Introduction

Every year I watch as several corporate organisations compete among themselves with the sole aim of gaining more customers to their sides.

To achieve this purpose, it is common to see the corporation organisations engage in promotions and award just to lure customers to their products.

This practice, though initially adopted in the western world has gained widespread adoption in Africa with Nigeria taking the lead.

This eye-opener in promo is getting more rapid that it is not uncommon now to see an organisation having more

than two promotions in a year.

Promotions of yesteryears

In those years, the market was not so competitive hence there was not much need for promo as being done in recent time. However, companies like Lever Brothers (now Unilevers), UAC and some beverages company still felt the need to woo more customers to their fold, though not with much dexterity as being done today.

Common promos in the early 80’s were the beverages and lager beer promo. Then, some the company engage in “Look inside the crown” promo where consumers are expected to look under the cork of some drinks and find a set of things ranging from animals, musical instruments and alphabet.

I could remember the famous look under the crown promo done by seven-up (7up) in the late 80s where we are expected to find a complete set of animals in other to claim our prize (one thousand naira). After a long search, we met with brick-wall when we can not find the last of the animal (eagle).

Determined and not giving up, my mum bought four (4) crates of 7up and we declared an impromptu party where people came in and drank awoof drink. However, after checking all ninety-eight (98) bottle crown, we still could not find the missing animal. We were later made to realised that there was only three (3) eagle printed in 3 bottle covers throughout the whole Nigeria. What a promo!

A promo also came to my mind during that same period when the Lever brothers started the Omo buy and win promo, in the promo, consumers are expected to buy a packet of Omo (Omo was still being sold in a thick paper) and look inside the packet for a coupon which stated the prize.

I stayed in a staff quarters where all the lecturers’ wives (over 20 of them including my mother) used Omo to wash their cloths, yet during the 3-month period of the promo (which led to intense and frequent buying of the Omo products) none of the wives saw any winning prize in the packet. The closest one came to winning anything was a Bic Biro in one of the packet.

Bank promos

Before the Soludo’s consolidation exercise and the Sanusi’s restructuring exercise, various Nigeria banks see it necessary to woo more customers and thus started the save and win promos. The purpose of this promo is to encourage customers to save more and withdraw less.

A common feature in the promo is the catch Increase your savings deposit by N10,000 monthly from June 20… to March 20… to win N50,0000, three consecutive incremental deposit of N10,000 qualifies you for a quarterly draw where you can win a brand new Kia Picanto car, while a N50,000 increment qualify you for a draw where N10 million.

This is very common in most banks, and prominent with Intercontinental bank, First Bank, UBA, Wema bank and Oceanic bank.

Only in 2009, Intercontinental bank did the promo twice (one for their anniversary and the other called happy savers promo, first Bank also ran the promo almost through the year and over 200 people were said to receive gifts ranging from N200,000 to Kia Picanto cars.

Telecommunication Promos

Perhaps this is one of the areas where the promo has been bastardised. With the triumvirate of MTN, GLO mobile and ZAIN (or can we call it Bharti Airtel already) the competition become thick daily as each battle to outdo the other and as such create promos at will.

There is no doubt that the three telecommunication network shared a customer base of more than 100 million subscribers but the need to keep those subscribers urge the telecommunication companies on.

With the threat now being posed by the new born babe among them (Etisalat), trying to break their dominance in the market, the telecommunication network are desperate to keep their hold on their customers.

Now and then, they all experimented with different plans and platform where their subscribers can enjoy their services the more.

Glo started the free night call experiment in 2004 with MTN and Zain following suit and this had brought in more youths to the network as they chat away all through the night.

With the need to outdo others, Glo also tried to experiment the free daily call where all they will need to deduct daily is N50 from the subscriber and the subscriber call freely all through the day.

This experiment only lasted for one week as Glo could not continue with it and have to revert back to its original plan.

Presently, Zain has experimented with the Joli plan and now the valueMax where subscribers have the avenue to call freely. All this are one of the strategy to woo more subscribers and keep existing ones.

MTN started with MTN Classic before trying out the Xtra plans where they have the Xtra Cool, Connect, Pro, and others and only recently switch to the Link Plan with the happy link, Funlink, Prolink and others.

Etisalat, not wanting to be outdone also from time to time bring in some promos with their plans, starting with the “Call for one minute and get one free minute” promo to the “Call all through the week and get 50 % of your credit back for use during the weekend”

Only recently, Etisalat tried out another version of the “family and friend” with the “U and Me” where subscribers get 300 naira credit weekly to call their “U and Me” numbers.

However, not satisfied with those platforms, these telecommunication networks have at one time or the other gone the extra mile to woo customers with some mouth watering promos.

2009 was the thick of all promos in the telecommunication companies as each tried out exaggerated and high profile promos.

For example, Glo started with the “Text and win” promo where subscribers are said to win N1 million daily for a period of 4 months and a grand winner winning N30 million (Waoh……. Can you imagine Glo dashing out N153 million just like that to 121 subscribers?)

After trying out the “Treasure Hunt ” Promo, MTN also adopted the “text and Win Promo” to mark the World Cup and allegedly gave out various Millions to subscribers (Mmmmmm….. Rolling up my eye)

The biggest Joker came from Etisalat where over 10 people were said to win N1 million daily in their Etisalat game show (being viewed in various Television stations all over Nigeria) and a 17 year old boy (oh no! not again) said to have won 30 million dollar.

Car Winners

Apart from the N1 million being said to be won daily in Nigeria by you and I, one enticing promo is that of the car promo. By my last count, Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank, First Bank, Diamond Bank and even the relatively unknown Spring Bank and Union Bank have between them given out over 300 promo cars within just one year, while the telecommunication companies also give out about 100 cars each every year.

For instance, Glo started a promo called “Bid as low as 11 naira” last year where they reportedly gave out over 60 cars (the promo ran for 2 months and a winner is expected to be chosen every day throughout the duration), right now, Glo is also involve in the “Recharge and win” promo where one person is expected to win a car daily for the duration of three months (90 cars again).

MTN is also not left out as they at one time or the other include the Car promo into their promos and gave out cars to people while Zain and Etisalat also join in the car promo.

Just last year, Nigeria Sport Lottery (Now SET Nigeria) invited me to witness the presentation of cars to 10 lucky winners as well as DSTV decoders and I was also present at the presentation of Car to UBA savings winner last year.

So where are the Promo Winners

A question quickly comes to mind, with all this cars being given out to people daily (mostly in Lagos), how come we still have thousand of people struggling for Molue, Danfos or queuing up at BRT terminals in Lagos?, How come we don’t have the street of Lagos adorned with vehicles said to be won by all these people? (I understand most of the vehicle won carries the logos of the company and ought to remain like that for a year).

How come that out of the over 500 car winners we have highlighted and over 500 supposed millionaires we hear of, ME, MY FRIENDS, MY FAMILY, MY RELATIVE, MY NEIGHBOURS and MY COLLEAGUES never know any of them?.

I can say this confidently that I live in Ikorodu and work in Ikoyi and in the course of my movements to and fro those places, I have never set my eye on any of the over 100 won promo cars saved for the Sisi Oge, Project Fame winner, and one Insurance car promo winner that I usually come across

This and many questions keep begging for answer any time another car or millionaire promo is being announced. I hope one day we will all know where the cars and millions are going and we will all get to know the truth, for now, lets keep the promo going.