LAMORDE’S EFCC
As the new Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, boss settles down to the job, says the tempo would be maintained
For the second time in four years, fate had thrust on Ibrahim Lamorde, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, a mission that appears daunting by all indications: that of fighting the seemingly highly entrenched evil of corruption and economic malaise in the country.
No sooner than his name was announced as the successor to the woman he handed over to three and a half years ago, that many people started to sound the knell of failure.
Many observers believe that, given the myth of ‘corruption fighting back’ and the unpopular fate of previous anti-graft campaigners in the country, Lamorde would just be another figurehead waiting to be dispensed with when the puppeteers deem fit.
With the Commission’s several high-profile cases against some powerful politicians and businessmen, some of whom are well-known supporters of the ruling party, still in court, many have wondered if the new EFCC warlord would be his own man, and build upon the foundation laid by his predecessors, or would he casually bow to the whims of the very corrupt and powerful people and let the cases slip.
Others have quickly written him off as a mere stooge of the administration, pointing to the circumstances of his immediate predecessor’s unceremonious dismissal from office.
Before her ouster, the former EFCC Chairman, Farida Waziri, had gone after some really big wigs in the political system as well as egomaniacal and corrupt top bank executives, not to mention top government officials, heads of parastatals and agencies, including petty-cyber thieves.
She left in her wake, over 450 convictions and recovered over $9 billion from corrupt elements within and outside the country.
According to Waziri, “Though we inherited about 10 high profile cases in 2008, we have taken about 75 of such high profile cases to courts, with another 1500 low profile cases pending in courts.
We have investigated and filed several fresh high profile cases which include cases of former governors, ministers, bank chief executives, heads of parastatals and agencies.
We have developed and deployed EagleClaw software that is changing the face of fighting cybercrime in Nigeria.
Over 5,000 fraudulent email addresses have so far been shut down and over 80 suspects, already facing trial.”
Meanwhile, feelers coming from the Commission have assured that with Lamorde in charge, there will not be a softer line in the anti-corruption campaign.
According to a highly-placed source at EFCC who has worked with Lamorde for years, “I assure there is not going to be any fundamental change of course, when you remember that the man has been at EFCC since its inception.”
Describing Lamorde’s temperament, he stated: “The man is not given to frivolities; and from his role as former EFCC Director of Operations, where he personally oversaw the manhunt, arrest and prosecution of many suspects, including all the former governors currently being prosecuted and those who had been convicted, it is to be expected what kind of leadership he would provide for the commission.”
He added that Lamorde, who had garnered a reputation as a no-nonsense police officer would shock many Nigerians, adding that, “Much as people may want to see Lamorde as an extension of a stop-gap head of the EFCC, he is actually his own man and has over the years been the iron-fist of the commission.
It is also important to note that the man has successfully overseen every operational activity of the EFCC, as Director of Operations in the over eight years.”
But Lamorde himself has sworn that the Commission under his watch would be committed to the pursuit of its mandate of tackling economic and financial crimes in the Nigerian system.
He further declared “a new phase in the life of the EFCC,” even as he praised Waziri for her commitment and service in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
He noted that, “In the last eight years, I have been uniquely placed as participant and observer in the birth and nurture of this Commission and I have benefitted from working with Mrs. Waziri over the years.
I will draw from hers strengths while seeking to improve on whatever institutional weaknesses there may be to build on your achievements and those of your predecessor.
The Acting Chairman, however, acknowledged that the fight against corruption would not be easy.
........................................
EFCC to assist Netherlands investigate fraud cases
The EFCC is to assist the Netherlands to investigate some fraud cases, the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, has said.
Acting Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said that Lamorde gave the indication when the Dutch Ambassador to Nigeria, Bert Ronhaar, visited him in Abuja.
Ronhaar was accompanied on the visit by Peter Jacobs, the Police Attaché at the Dutch Embassy.
The statement said the Netherlands government assured that it would seek the intervention of the EFCC in the investigation of some organised crime cases.
It said the envoy congratulated Lamorde, and regretted the lull in the past few years of the excellent relationship that existed between the Netherlands police and the EFCC.
It further said that the envoy promised his government's renewed commitment to reviving ``existing links in the overall interest of the people of both countries''.
The statement said that Rohhaar also promised to table before the Netherlands government, a request to support the EFCC with equipment and training to improve its capacity in dealing with organised crimes.
It said the Ambassador assured Lamorde that EFCC operatives would be accommodated in a capacity building programme for law enforcement officers in the Netherlands in 2012.
The statement said that the EFCC boss, in his response, thanked the envoy for the offer of assistance, saying that the EFCC had excellent training facilities in the country at its Research and Training Institute at Karu in Abuja.
It recalled that the EFCC in its formative years enjoyed robust relationships with the Netherlands and the Dutch police.
The X-ray equipment that extracts information from telephones installed at the Lagos Office of the Commission was donated by the Netherlands, it said.
The statement urged the Ambassador to `bury' the issues that contributed to the lull in relations between the two organisations and renew ties with the EFCC.
Whatever issues we had in the past should be disregarded, formal and good relations should be restored,'' it said.
It said the EFCC boss assured his resolve to cleanse the commission and turn it around, adding that the envoy's confidence in the commission would not be betrayed.
Ronhaar is the fourth foreign envoy to visit the EFCC since Nov. 28, when Lamorde formally assumed office as Acting Chairman.
Others are the German Ambassador, Dorothee Janetzke-Wenzel, the Deputy Head of the U.S. Mission in Nigeria, James McAnulty and the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Giles Lever.
As the new Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, boss settles down to the job, says the tempo would be maintained
For the second time in four years, fate had thrust on Ibrahim Lamorde, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, a mission that appears daunting by all indications: that of fighting the seemingly highly entrenched evil of corruption and economic malaise in the country.
No sooner than his name was announced as the successor to the woman he handed over to three and a half years ago, that many people started to sound the knell of failure.
Many observers believe that, given the myth of ‘corruption fighting back’ and the unpopular fate of previous anti-graft campaigners in the country, Lamorde would just be another figurehead waiting to be dispensed with when the puppeteers deem fit.
With the Commission’s several high-profile cases against some powerful politicians and businessmen, some of whom are well-known supporters of the ruling party, still in court, many have wondered if the new EFCC warlord would be his own man, and build upon the foundation laid by his predecessors, or would he casually bow to the whims of the very corrupt and powerful people and let the cases slip.
Others have quickly written him off as a mere stooge of the administration, pointing to the circumstances of his immediate predecessor’s unceremonious dismissal from office.
Before her ouster, the former EFCC Chairman, Farida Waziri, had gone after some really big wigs in the political system as well as egomaniacal and corrupt top bank executives, not to mention top government officials, heads of parastatals and agencies, including petty-cyber thieves.
She left in her wake, over 450 convictions and recovered over $9 billion from corrupt elements within and outside the country.
According to Waziri, “Though we inherited about 10 high profile cases in 2008, we have taken about 75 of such high profile cases to courts, with another 1500 low profile cases pending in courts.
We have investigated and filed several fresh high profile cases which include cases of former governors, ministers, bank chief executives, heads of parastatals and agencies.
We have developed and deployed EagleClaw software that is changing the face of fighting cybercrime in Nigeria.
Over 5,000 fraudulent email addresses have so far been shut down and over 80 suspects, already facing trial.”
Meanwhile, feelers coming from the Commission have assured that with Lamorde in charge, there will not be a softer line in the anti-corruption campaign.
According to a highly-placed source at EFCC who has worked with Lamorde for years, “I assure there is not going to be any fundamental change of course, when you remember that the man has been at EFCC since its inception.”
Describing Lamorde’s temperament, he stated: “The man is not given to frivolities; and from his role as former EFCC Director of Operations, where he personally oversaw the manhunt, arrest and prosecution of many suspects, including all the former governors currently being prosecuted and those who had been convicted, it is to be expected what kind of leadership he would provide for the commission.”
He added that Lamorde, who had garnered a reputation as a no-nonsense police officer would shock many Nigerians, adding that, “Much as people may want to see Lamorde as an extension of a stop-gap head of the EFCC, he is actually his own man and has over the years been the iron-fist of the commission.
It is also important to note that the man has successfully overseen every operational activity of the EFCC, as Director of Operations in the over eight years.”
But Lamorde himself has sworn that the Commission under his watch would be committed to the pursuit of its mandate of tackling economic and financial crimes in the Nigerian system.
He further declared “a new phase in the life of the EFCC,” even as he praised Waziri for her commitment and service in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
He noted that, “In the last eight years, I have been uniquely placed as participant and observer in the birth and nurture of this Commission and I have benefitted from working with Mrs. Waziri over the years.
I will draw from hers strengths while seeking to improve on whatever institutional weaknesses there may be to build on your achievements and those of your predecessor.
The Acting Chairman, however, acknowledged that the fight against corruption would not be easy.
........................................
EFCC to assist Netherlands investigate fraud cases
The EFCC is to assist the Netherlands to investigate some fraud cases, the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, has said.
Acting Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said that Lamorde gave the indication when the Dutch Ambassador to Nigeria, Bert Ronhaar, visited him in Abuja.
Ronhaar was accompanied on the visit by Peter Jacobs, the Police Attaché at the Dutch Embassy.
The statement said the Netherlands government assured that it would seek the intervention of the EFCC in the investigation of some organised crime cases.
It said the envoy congratulated Lamorde, and regretted the lull in the past few years of the excellent relationship that existed between the Netherlands police and the EFCC.
It further said that the envoy promised his government's renewed commitment to reviving ``existing links in the overall interest of the people of both countries''.
The statement said that Rohhaar also promised to table before the Netherlands government, a request to support the EFCC with equipment and training to improve its capacity in dealing with organised crimes.
It said the Ambassador assured Lamorde that EFCC operatives would be accommodated in a capacity building programme for law enforcement officers in the Netherlands in 2012.
The statement said that the EFCC boss, in his response, thanked the envoy for the offer of assistance, saying that the EFCC had excellent training facilities in the country at its Research and Training Institute at Karu in Abuja.
It recalled that the EFCC in its formative years enjoyed robust relationships with the Netherlands and the Dutch police.
The X-ray equipment that extracts information from telephones installed at the Lagos Office of the Commission was donated by the Netherlands, it said.
The statement urged the Ambassador to `bury' the issues that contributed to the lull in relations between the two organisations and renew ties with the EFCC.
Whatever issues we had in the past should be disregarded, formal and good relations should be restored,'' it said.
It said the EFCC boss assured his resolve to cleanse the commission and turn it around, adding that the envoy's confidence in the commission would not be betrayed.
Ronhaar is the fourth foreign envoy to visit the EFCC since Nov. 28, when Lamorde formally assumed office as Acting Chairman.
Others are the German Ambassador, Dorothee Janetzke-Wenzel, the Deputy Head of the U.S. Mission in Nigeria, James McAnulty and the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Giles Lever.
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