The Chairman of the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde on Monday said that no less than N15.5 billion was intercepted at the nation’s airports since January.

Mr Lamorde, who was speaking at the 2012 International Anti-Corruption Day celebrations with the theme, ACT….Help Detect Corruption Risks Today, organised by the Inter – Agency Task Team, IATT, comprising of Anti –Corruption Agencies, said the amount represented physical cash and not legitimate cash transfer through the financial institutions, taken out through the nation’s airports.

He said N14 billion being couriered outside the country was intercepted at the nation’s airports between January and August while the operation of a Special Task Team which is a joint patrol of the airport by the EFCC operatives and Nigerian Customs officers which commenced in September 2012, had yielded the arrest of illegal cash courier with over $9 million.

While linking the illegal transfer and corruption to greed, callousness and meanness of the people involved, Mr Lamorde gave example of an individual, who was arrested for laundering money in cash to the tune of $7 million in brief case and flying out of the country through the airport.

He said “corruption is one of the reasons Nigeria has not been able to make progress, socially, politically and economically and we have all agreed that corruption cannot be sustained in Nigeria, all of us must come together to fight corruption.”

The EFCC chairman, who said the funding of the anti-corruption agencies and their operating legislations have to be reviewed, explained that between January and December 2012, the Commission had filed about 353 cases at various courts across the country and had recorded about 53 convictions so far.

“Criminal procedure rather than judiciary should be blamed for the problem of slow pace of trial of corruption cases. Somebody cannot steal from you and expect that the law should protect him against you the victim of his crime. Something has to be done. I pray that the new leadership of the judiciary will be able to do something”, he said.

He also reiterated the need for a special court to take on corruption cases in Nigeria.

“Judges are either transferred or the witnesses dead. It is not fair on the anti-corruption agencies to say they are delaying cases. Let cases not last forever. If you think there is no case, please discharge the person but where the person has a case to answer, the case should be concluded in good time”, Mr Lamorde said.

The IATT Chairman, Ledum Mitee said some very possible reasons why the problem of corruption had remained stagnant were: weak anti-corruption institutions in terms of capacity, funding and coordination; failure of leadership at all levels to genuinely talk the talk and walk the walk and the need for a more concerted effort in ensuring synergy in the operations of Anti-Corruption Agencies.

He said that performance in fighting corruption had been very poor.

“However, we cannot continue on this path. We must steer the ship aright. With the establishment of the Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT), synergy is being built amongst the anti-corruption agencies; the era of individual turf is waning giving room for possible joint investigations and prosecutions which in turn is expected to result in effective sanctions and prevention of corruption”, he said.

Source: http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/12/10/we-seized-over-n14-billion-at-airports-this-year-efcc/

Good one. But what happens to all the seized money. We never hear of that one at all. Abacha loot for instance

14B, dos are d 1 seen by EFCC, dos 1 dt EFCC didnt c nko ? MONEY LAUNDERING VERY ACTIVE NIGERIA

Good work EFCC but after the arrest we don't know where the money enters.

14 billion seized? Now how much was not seized? Maybe like 100billion. Gud one, anyway.

I agree with the EFCC Chairman that there should be special courts dedicated to the handling of economic and financial crimes. This would guarantee the speedy trial of financial crimes.

blueheart: Good one. But what happens to all the seized money. We never hear of that one at all. Abacha loot for instance

Shared among other peeps ofcourse, duh

14billion? Pls where's the money??

@immkels:
14billion? Pls where's the money??

money don wear skirt and blouse with sneakers waka comot for nigeria.

dridowu: 14B, dos are d 1 seen by EFCC, dos 1 dt EFCC didnt c nko ? MONEY LAUNDERING VERY ACTIVE NIGERIA

Where are the ones seen by EFCC diverted to?

morewealth: Good work EFCC but after the arrest we don't know where the money enters.

Because EFCC's power stops there. The other parts of the system are too corrupt.

Interesting!!! Buh we never got to know hw these monies go,like wise d culprits.God bless Nigeria tho.

:oWoaw,dats a lot

.

THEY SHOULD GIVE SOME CREDITS TO MIGRATION OFFICERS. AT LEAST 2 CASES I HEARD RECENTLY WERE INTERCEPTED BY MIGRATION OFFICERS NOT THEM, THEY ONLY HAND THE SUSPECTS TO THEM.

Ok

CFCfan: I agree with the EFCC Chairman that there should be special courts dedicated to the handling of economic and financial crimes. This would guarantee the speedy trial of financial crimes.

And dis is d most CRUCIAL point in d fight against corruptn presently.. Just last sunady at ChannelsTV law programme (law weekly, sundays 9:30-10:00pm) Femi Falana almost exoneratd d Anti-corruption Agencies and namd SOME lawyers and judges as d main culprit in d fight against corruptn as they friviously delay cases in court, thereby frustrating d fight against corruptn. He then made sm interesting contrast bw d British legal system's handling of d Ibori' case and dat of her Nigeria's counterpart... I hv often argued here dat d most critical move that can happen right away in d fight against corruptn is for THE CJN TO FULFILL HER PROMISE AND APPOINT SPECIAL JUDGES AGAINST CORRUPTN CASES as a general judicial reform is pursued as dis wud enable well prosecutd cases to be concluded in say a yr instead of d present 'eternity' it tks; d astonishing tin is dat dis can be achievd if substaind pressure is put on d CJN whilst respecting her very sensitive office

ignis:
Where are the ones seen by EFCC diverted to?

gbam, right questn

ALL THIS RUBBISH THAT THE EFCC CLAIMS THAT THEY SEIZED N14B IS A LOAD OF CRAP.

IF THEY DID, WHERE IS THE MONEY ..... STOLEN AS USUAL

How does this affect the hundreds of billions laundered electronically to offshore banks?

the money go to which account? or for what project jo oooooooooooooo

And the money were kept in whose bank?

Its better you finish that story .

Am using this medium to call on the cjn to fulfill her promise of appointing special judges to fight this stigma called corruption. Madam mariam muktah we are waiting for you .

No wonder national assembly cut down your budget by 50% i beg make una allow dem carrygo jooor

Thanks for dat info den pls where is d/our money

Oh bravo and a hand of applause for EFCC and pls Mr EFCC where did you kept the so called N14 BILLION? bloody Nonsense.