Senate begins Lamorde trial

Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde

The probe of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, commenced as scheduled on Wednesday with his accuser telling the Senate that the EFCC boss gave out properties recovered from looters to siblings and friends.

George Uboh, the man who petitioned the Senate against alleged diversion of N1tn recovered funds by the Federal Government, in his oral submission before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, said that his interaction with ex-Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha showed that the amount recovered from the former governor was far more than what the EFCC declared in its reports.

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“We have evidence of how Lamorde has been giving out some of the choice seized property and assets to some of his siblings, especially Usman, and we are ready to produce necessary evidence at the appropriate time,” Uboh told the Senate committee.

He also explained to the committee how the incumbent Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, was allegedly intimidated by the EFCC under Lamorde to stop a legal process initiated to recover the shortfall of Alamieyeseigha’s money by the Bayelsa State government.

He urged the committee to compel the EFCC to remit N2.051tn to the Federal Government, while Access Bank Plc should be compelled to produce the commission’s “complete and unadulterated” statements from 2004 till date.

He also asked the Senate to invite Aminu Ibrahim and co, a firm of auditors, to appear before it to shed light on discrepancies.

He said that contrary to the provisions of Section 36 of EFCC (Establishment) Act of 2004, the anti-graft agency failed to remit over N1tn, alleging that the summary of EFCC’s monetary recovery from March 2003 – March 2013 was N497.385bn and that the agency did not mention where the amount was remitted to.

He also said that the letter written by the EFCC to the Chairman, House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, in 2012 stated that the aggregate recovery from 2004 to 2011 was N1.326tn without details of remittances.

He said, “How can recovery for eight financial years be more than recovery for 11 financial years by over N800bn when the eight financial years are subsumed in the 11 financial years? Why do recovery for the same years differ on different reports?

“It should be noted that the two documents submitted were prepared under the chairmanship of Lamorde.

“Compare the first two submissions emanating from EFCC. The 2011 submission is over N800bn higher than the 2013 submission despite two additional years of naira recovery in the 2013 submission.

“Based on the records, because EFCC has not been able to account for over N800bn, EFCC manipulated the above records and grossly understated recovery in order to conceal the fraud.”

The Senate committee refused to hear the legal team sent by Lamorde on the grounds that the EFCC boss had earlier requested and granted more time before appearing before the panel.

The EFCC team was led by the Director of Legal Services of the anti-graft agency, Mr. Chile Okoroma. Okoroma came in company with Lamorde’s personal lawyer, Mr.Osuagwu Ugochukwu.

They walked into the venue of the meeting about one hour into the commencement of sitting.

The EFCC lawyer had asked for permission from the panel to react to Uboh’s submissions even as he expressed reservations over the decision of the committee members to listen to Uboh without the representatives of the anti-graft agency in attendance.

Members of the committee, especially Senators Dino Melaye and Rafiu Ibrahim, objected to Okoroma’s observation and queried his right to dictate to the panel on how to carry out its assignment.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, consequently read a letter from the EFCC, seeking the permission of the upper chamber to appear at a later date when its comprehensive annual audit report would have been received from KPMG, an audit firm.

Anyanwu said the committee would not attend to any submission from Okoroma and his team because they were not being expected.

He therefore asked the legal team to excuse the committee to enable it to conclude with the petitioner before determining when Lamorde would be invited to respond to the allegations.

Okoroma and Ugochukwu, however, told our correspondent outside the committee room   that they appeared before the panel because the committee was silent on the EFCC letter requesting an extension of time to appear before it.

Okoroma said, “The procedure adopted by the committee is flawed. They should not have heard the petitioner in our absence and they did not also send the documents attached to the petition to us.

“The committee was aware of our coming because we informed them. The petitioner should have proved his allegation in our presence. All what he was saying are pieces of rubbish and we are highly disappointed in the committee.”

Meanwhile, the anti-Senate President Bukola Saraki senators under the aegis of Senate Unity Forum, on Wednesday, declared the Lamorde’s probe by the committee as illegal because it did not follow the due process and that it breached the Senate Rules.

The group, in a petition by Senators Gorge Akume, Abu Ibrahim, Barnabas Gemade and Ahmad Lawan, faulted the process through which the petition was sent to the committee.

It noted that in a standard parliamentary practice, a petition should be routed through either a senator or a member of the House of Representatives and that upon receipt of such a petition the representative would inform the presiding officer of the chamber and, thereafter, present the petition in the plenary.

“Upon presentation in plenary, the presiding officer will invite the senator/member, House of Representatives. To lay the same petition on the table in the chamber, this automatically becomes a public document.

“In this regard, nothing of the sort happened. Senate proceeded on recess on August 13 and it is not on record that the petition of Mr. George Uboh, accusing Lamorde of diverting over N1tn recovered from some corrupt Nigerians, including former Governor of Bayelsa State, DSP Alamieyesigha, and the former Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun, was presented to Senate in Plenary,” the group’s statement read in part.

Source: PUNCH