Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, on Wednesday decried the slow pace of action from the United Kingdom, UK, on the corruption case, involving Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The prosecution of Diezani, a former Minister of Petroleum, by the UK government on issues of corruption has dragged for about four years.
A statement by the EFCC spokesman, Mr. Tony Orilade, quoted Magu as expressing his concerns while receiving a team of International Criminal Police Organisation, Interpol, in his office.
Magu expressed concern that the matter had dragged on in the UK for more than four years with no visible result and no end in sight.
“There is the case of Diezani which has been going on for over four years and the amount involved is about 2.4 billion dollars and no kobo has been recovered from overseas.
“Though, we have recovered some of the proceeds of the crime, we are still tracing others,” he said.
The EFCC Chairman, however noted with pleasure that the commission’s relationship with InterPol had made it easier to place suspects on red notice.
According to the statement, he told his visitors that getting Diezani, Dan Etete, (former petroleum minister), Mohammed Adoke (former attorney general and minister of justice), all of whom are overseas and facing fraud cases in Nigeria, back to the country had been a problem.
Magu, therefore, called on their new countries of residence to either prosecute them or hand them over to Nigeria given that they were Nigerians.
In his remarks, InterPol’s Coordinator on Anti-corruption, Mr. Sebastian Bley, commended the efforts of the EFCC in the fight against corruption.
The statement quoted him further: “We are fostering our relationship with selected law enforcement agencies in Nigeria because we are doing a set of activities which have been fruitful.
“One area we will need to be stronger is the area of case coordination support.”