el-Rufai must face trial, says Waziri

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Mrs. Farida Waziri, yesterday said the case against a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has not been withdrawn.

She said within two and a half years, the EFCC has recovered $6.5b (N975b) and secured 150 convictions.

She also said over 1,500 cases initiated by the commission are pending in courts.

Mrs. Waziri spoke to reporters after receiving the new World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, Osita Offor.

She said: “Of course, the case against el-Rufai has not been withdrawn. I learnt he has been talking about EFCC’s incompetence and that charges were wrongly made, but that is left to the court to decide.

“This is a case that emanated from the National Assembly, which indicted him. It is the court that will decide el-Rufai’s fate.

“He also said the EFCC is no longer what it used to be when his friend was in charge. If my friend is in charge, I will pay kudos to him too.”

Asked to respond to alleged withdrawal of cases by the Federal Government, Mrs. Waziri added: “I am not aware that we are withdrawing cases; we have not withdrawn any case – to the best of my knowledge.

“This commission is very professional and when we are taking you to court, we do it because we have a prima facie case.

“But a lot of them we take to court do not like it and that is why they make noise. Once we take them to court, they hit back and make unguarded statements.

“We are not going to withdraw any case; the court will decide who is guilty; who is not.”

The EFCC chairman also claimed that the commission has 1,500 cases pending in various courts.

She added: “As you are already aware, our job here is to wage relentless war against the menace of economic and financial crimes, including corruption, which has not only given our country a bad image abroad, but has equally been the bane of our socio-economic development.

“During my two and half years on this seat, we have not only recovered over $6.5billion for the nation, we have secured over 150 convictions with over 1,500 cases pending in courts. I have given you this brief of our activities to show you the enormity of the challenge we face as a nation.”

Mrs Waziri called for support from all Nigerians for the EFCC because “the commission can not fight corruption alone”.

She said: “This explains why we cannot do it alone. We need the support and collaboration of all stakeholders.

“We indeed need heavyweight champions, like Osita Offor and Ambassador John Fashanu, to launch concerted assaults on this deadly menace, which I believe is deadlier than the dreaded HIV/AIDS.”

The wrestling champion said: “We want to work with people who have the interest of this nation at heart. The EFCC chairman has always made me proud; she is a role model.”

-Nation

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Posted by admin on Feb 23 2011. Filed under Latest Politics, National Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry