[OPINION] EFCC’s persistent failure at criminal asset forfeiture
For those interested in financial crime proceedings in this country, and I guess many of you are, it is such a relief when one sees news headlines highlighting how much properties the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has compelled convicted criminals, as well as suspects, to forfeit to the Federal Government.
Let me be as simple as it can be made to the wider readership. The EFCC methodology is honed on an aggressive criminal prosecution of financial crime as the best way of stemming the tide of official corruption, money laundering and financial crime in general. In other words, arrest, put on parade, prosecute, secure conviction and forfeit assets in that order. Followed to its logical conclusion, the process is cumbersome, and often becomes mired in a cobweb of legalism .
To make matters worse, the prosecution in Nigeria is in the bad habit of proffering several dozen counts against an accused. James Ibori, for instance, had over 100 counts, and the EFCC lost them all. He was later arrested and prosecuted in London on a simpler 12 counts, and was convicted and sent to prison in 2012.
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