Amid the controversy, spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Femi Babafemi, in a telephone interview with The Guardian yesterday, deniedthe allegation that the Commission is pushing for plea bargain.Could you give an update on the arrest of former banks chiefsYou are aware that charges have already been filed against Akingbola, his wife and Bayo Dada, one of Akingbolas associates. So, we are expecting the matter to be assigned next week so that it can be properly brought to the court room. At the moment the wife, Anthonia Akingbola is still at large and we are looking for her.What about the report that Atuches wife was also arrestedShes in custody.Is her arrest meant to get the husband or are there charges against herNo, no, no. She has a different case. She was arrested because some of her companies were used to steal over a N100 billion. It is a different case, just as Akingbolas wife has a different case, Atuches wife has a different case distinct from that of her husband as well. They were just trying to misinform the public by claiming that the woman was arrested because her husband was at large, no, we are looking for the two of them. There was a claim that both of them had traveled out, only for us to discover that the woman was hiding.Why this second arrest when some of them are reporting to the EFCC on monthly or weekly basisNow, there are two things, dont forget that they are facing charges at the Federal High Court in Lagos for money laundering and manipulation of bank records, thats basically what they are facing charges for at the Federal High Court. Only the Federal High Court can handle such cases. Now, what we are dragging them before the State High Court, is stealing which is a predicate offence. Let me give you a clear example, somebody we already charged before the High Court for money laundry, now the money they launder of which they are facing charges, where did they steal them Where did the money come from Now, we can be able to establish that the money comes from source A, B, C so that is why they are now going to face different charges. It is called the predicate offence.There is also speculation in some quarters that the EFCC might be doing the bidding of the CBN...No, no, no. You see, the issue is, CBN is a different government institution, the EFCC is a different government institution that is one. Two, the question that should be asked is that does the EFCC have any power to investigate them Yes. The offences for which they are being investigated and prosecuted, are they real I will tell you yes. So these are the issues they should face either in the public domain, in the public Court or in the regular court rather than these accusations, they are just diversionary to us. The real issues are, were depositors fund stolen Were these funds laundered That is the basic concern of the EFCC not those extra curricula reasons or whatever, that is not our business; we dont have issues with those ones.Is EFCC pushing for plea bargainIf we are pushing for plea bargain, then we wouldnt be taken them to court. If the Commission is taking them to court to prosecute them, the plea bargain request often comes from the accused person or the person being prosecuted not from the prosecutor. So, that is one blackmail that I have read about some of their arguments. The Commission cant ask you to come and bargain with them, is not possible. You only make a request for that if you dont want to waste the time of the Court and the commission now reserves the right to say well okay we would take your request, we would not take it.Was there anytime the EFCC and the CBN met to discuss the modalities of the re-arrestAbsolutely no. The only meeting that I ever knew took place was based on a request from Akingbola and Intercontinental bank based on the judgment of a Court in United Kingdom, which said Akingbola should return E9million he took away from the bank, which he agreed to do but on the long run when there was a meeting among all the parties, the EFCC turned that down because we believe that the outcome of it would jeopardize our case in court and we dont want to fall into such a trap.Akingbola himself seems to have denied holding any meeting with Intercontinental Bank management.Well, I dont know that, what I know is that there was a Court order from the U.K brought to the EFCC to the effect that Akingbola had agreed to refund E9 million and now asking the Commission to lift the lid on his account frozen in the U.K so that he can pay the money. That we rejected and was the only meeting that I know took place. It is not a secret meeting, it was an open meeting.
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