There are reports that the Federal Government’s anti-corruption operatives have been sent after ‘super rich’ public officers who have multiple properties and other assets suspected to have been the rewards of graft.
It was learnt that the ICPC was relying on petitions from civil servants and the ACTU operatives to carry out its investigations into the activities of the affected civil servants.
It was gathered that the ICPC operatives’ focus had been on civil servants who have more than three properties and a fleet of cars beyond their income.
Reports say, “The ICPC is intensifying efforts to retrieve some of these stolen assets from those involved.
“You know that the commission has a unit called the Assets Tracing, Recovery and Management Unit. This is the unit that is involved in probing those who have such assets with stolen funds.
“In fact the operatives are working very discreetly on the issue but the focus of the ICPC’s probe is the civil service.
“Those civil servants living a life beyond their means, their lifestyles are under watch. People are monitoring them, whistle-blowers are writing petitions and the Assets Recovery Unit is following up on them.
“Another thing is that we have the Anti-Corruption Transparency Units in all the agencies; these units are being supervised by our officers. They are collaborating with whistle-blowers in the various ministries and agencies…”
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, had in the past urged a former Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji, to put in place an internal mechanism to check the negative trend.
The commission had in a statement by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, quoted Lamorde as citing the involvement of civil servants in the pension fraud investigations.
Lamorde had said, “You should look inward and focus on issues of welfare that may be the cause of the incessant corrupt acts. Even though this is not an excuse before the law, we should be able to ask ourselves why for example most properties in the Federal Capital Territory are found to be owned by civil servants through proxies.”
Punch
It is very evident that Lamorde cannot handle the EFCC job. He is a toothless bulldog and is suspected to have compromised his office. He should therefore be shown his way out if Buhari and indeed APC must succeed.