The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will next week apply to
court for arrest warrants against some suspects named in the charges
relating to the $1.1bn Malabu oil scam, PUNCH reports
It was
learnt that the anti-graft agency would soon commence the process of
extraditing other suspects, who are abroad and have not shown readiness
to submit themselves for trial.
Among the suspects who are abroad,
are the immediate-past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister
of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke Bello (SAN), who has informed his
successor, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), that he was being persecuted by
the EFCC.
The EFCC had alleged that over $1.1bn fraudulently
exchanged hands in alleged shady transactions over the highly lucrative
Nigerian oil well OPL 245, said to have been originally offered to
Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd by the then Gen. Sani Abacha junta under
controversial circumstances in 1998.
Already the EFCC has filed
three sets of charges before the Federal High Court in Abuja and the
High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, against Adoke and
others.
Sources confirmed on Saturday that majority, if not all
the defendants, named in the sets of charges were not within the
immediate reach of the anti-graft agency.
“That
is why we have not been able to arraign the defendants. At a time, we
had to write to the courts where the charges were filed to give us some
time in order to bring them to court,” a source at the EFCC said on
Saturday.
When asked what steps the EFCC was going to take, the
source said the anti-graft agency would next week commence moves to
compel the defendants to attend their trial.
According to the
source, options available to the commission include applying to court
for arrest warrants against the defendants suspected to be in Nigeria.
The source said for those who were abroad, the EFCC would write the AGF’s office to commence their extradition processes.
The
EFCC official, who sought not to be named, said, “All these will start
happening on the first day the cases are mentioned in court sometime in
the first week of April.
“On that day, we may apply for the arrest of those we suspect are in the country.
“We will subsequently ask court to give us more time to enable us bring those of them that are abroad back home.
“The
extradition procedure can only be ignited by the AGF, who has the
exclusive powers to apply to court to extradite a suspect from Nigeria
to another country, or activate the mutual assistance of a host country
of a suspect to extradite the wanted person back to Nigeria.
“So,
after the first mention of the case in court, the commission will liaise
with the AGF to take the appropriate steps in that regard.”
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