EFCC probes audio alleging Nigeria’s AGF Malami controls agency

•We’re investigating allegations, says anti-graft agency

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has broken its silence over a leaked audio recording of its official, who alleged that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, was interfering in the affairs of the commission.

On Tuesday, DAILY NIGERIAN exclusively published a leaked audio of an EFCC official, Mohammed Idris, making damning revelations on how the minister micromanages the anti-graft agency.

In one of the multiple audio recordings verified by some insiders, the EFCC operative was discussing with one Abdulbari Yusuf, a younger brother to a retired rear admiral and former director of Navy Accounts, Tahir Yusuf, who was facing charges of corruption.

Mr Idris, who is a lawyer, was also heard giving Mr Yusuf’s brother hints on how to defeat the anti-graft commission at the Court of Appeal as well as ways to evacuate money from a particular account.

“If he has money in any account linked with his BVN [Bank Verification Number], he should quickly evacuate them. And if he makes transfers, EFCC will still trace it. He should only withdraw and then deposit into another account,” he said.

Mr Yusuf had also specifically mentioned Mr Malami as the one in charge of the EFCC, and the minister had ordered the unfreezing of “big accounts” investigated by the commission.

“Malami now controls the EFCC. The commission is in his hands. Once Malami speaks, the account will be unfrozen. They are unfreezing suspects’ accounts, including the big cases,” the EFCC operative said.

Weighing in on the scandal, EFCC said in a statement issued on Thursday: “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to a trending audio tape in the social media, where Mohammed Idris, a lawyer and seconded police officer with the Commission, purportedly made unsubstantiated claims regarding the influence of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, on the commission.

“The commission wishes to state that it has commenced investigation into the content of the audio tape and will activate its internal mechanism to deal with the issues arising therefrom.”

“For the avoidance of doubt, the EFCC does not condone acts of corruption. Abuse of privilege for financial gratification by personnel of the Commission is a serious offence against discipline.

“Without prejudice to the outcome of the investigation, snippets of the audio recording clearly showed an abysmally compromised “officer” dropping names to ingratiate his benefactor, a relative of a crime suspect. By the alleged action, the said officer is no more than a corrupt fifth columnist with scant regard for the values of the Commission,” the statement signed by Spokesman of EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said.

The commission further noted that “the action is contemptuous of the established standard operating procedure of the EFCC. Such professional indiscretion has no place in the new EFCC. The commission encourages citizens who encounter any such unprofessional conduct by personnel of the EFCC to report to the commission in support of our quest to build a better Agency.

“Reporting such conducts has been made easy by the Eagle Eye App, a financial crimes reporting application which was launched earlier in the year. We encourage members of the public to download the App from the Apple and Google Play Store and put it to use.

“Finally, the commission wishes to assure the public that its operations are guided by established professional precepts which do not support the kind of discretion that could allow for manipulation by external actors”, it said. (Pieced together from reports by THISDAY and DAILY NIGERIAN)