The Federal Government has approved the establishment of a new anti-corruption agency which will be responsible for the proper coordination of all recovered loots.
The Federal Executive Council gave the nod for the establishment on Wednesday which is subject to ratification by the National Assembly.
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami told reporters after the FEC meeting that assets recovered have been in the hands of several agencies and that better coordination will encourage international/overall coordination in recovering more looted assets.
The new agency will be named ‘Proceeds of Crime Recovery and Management Agency’.
Malami said an agency of this nature has become necessary in a bid to consolidate the gains achieved so far in the government’s war against corruption.
“What happens before now is the proceeds of crime are scattered all over, and mostly in the hands of different and multiple agencies of government inclusive of the police, the DSS (Department of State Service), EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission), and ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission).
“So, with that kind of arrangement which is ad-hoc, there is no agency of government that is saddled with the responsibility of data generation, an agency that can give you off-hand the number of landed assets, number of immovable assets, the amount in cash that are recovered by the federal government by way of interim forfeiture overweigh of a final forfeiture,” he said.
The move comes as part of reforms which have followed the probe of the suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu on allegations of corruption among others.
