Ibrahim
Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), has accused the UK authorities of being too slow with the
prosecution of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum.
Speaking
on Wednesday while receiving a team of International Criminal Police
Organisation (Interpol) at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, Magu
said the case has festered for the past four years with no positive
result.
He said no kobo had been recovered from the $2.4 billion allegedly frittered away be the ex-minister.
“There
is the case of Diezani which has been going on for over four years and
the amount involved is about $2.4 billion and no kobo has been recovered
from overseas,” he said.
“Though we have not been able to arrest
some of these fleeing people, it is good that they know they are on red
notice, as there are Nigerians like Diezani whom we have applied for.”
Magu
disclosed that getting Diezani, Dan Etete, also a former petroleum
minister, and those who are abroad but facing fraud charges in Nigeria
back to the country has been a problem.
He urged the countries
hosting the former officials to either prosecute them or hand them over
to Nigeria “since they are Nigerians.”
The EFCC chairman assured Interpol of the commission’s continued support on information sharing.
“We
are willing to cooperate with Interpol at all times, if there is
anything other enforcement agencies cannot provide especially in
financial crime, the Interpol is sure to get result here in EFCC because
we specialize in financial crime, money laundering and terrorist
financing,” he said.
“We are thankful for Interpol residency in
the EFCC 24/7. We are delighted that the collaboration with Interpol is
yielding results, especially in the area of intelligence.”
In June, detectives from the UK visited Nigeria to “gather more evidence” against Diezani.
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