Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been a blow-hot agency with so much rhetoric and drama but without any recorded conviction so far. What manner of agency is this that bandy about their photo-up effort to eradicate corruption in Nigeria with little or nothing to show for its' effort all these years. Maybe they should look west to America to see how it is done -
it is called jail time for corrupt officials or persons. Jack Abrmoff is going to the big house for four years for corruption as well as the halibuton official accused of bribing Nigerian officials.
Now read the two stories: -
1. US lobbyist jailed for corruption
Abramoff's assistance led to other corruption convictions. Former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been sentenced to four years in prison for corruption. Abramoff had pleaded guilty in a Washington court to charges of trading expensive gifts, meals and sports trips in exchange for political favours. The case caused a scandal in Washington and sparked off a wide-ranging public corruption probe. Abramoff is already serving a six-year term for his role in an unrelated fraudulent Florida casino deal. 'Changed man' The court had heard how Abramoff made tens of millions of dollars by steering clients to consultants who charged excessive fees and then split the profits with him. Abramoff had faced a possible 11-year sentence but was shown leniency because of his cooperation in other corruption cases. In 3,000 hours of interviews with the FBI, he gave information leading to the conviction of a string of lawmakers and high-profile political figures, including one member of Congress. Abramoff told the court that he was "a broken man" and pleaded for leniency, saying it was "amazing for me to see how far I strayed and how I did not see it at the time". He said that much of the activity of Washington "lives in the loopholes" but that he had "blundered farther than even those excesses would allow". The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says that the scandal was a disaster for the Republican party, leading to their loss of control in Congress in 2006. But, our correspondent says, the case is unlikely to have any impact on the current race for the White House. Abramoff's current jail term relates to the faking of a wire transfer to obtain loans to buy a fleet of casino boats.
2. Ex-KBR executive in guilty plea
KBR has been among firms involved in reconstruction in Iraq.The former chief executive of US construction firm KBR, Albert Stanley, has pleaded guilty to charges of corruption relating to Nigerian deals.Mr Stanley faces a seven-year prison sentence and must pay $10.8m (£6.07m), said the US Justice Department. He and others were accused of gaining construction deals worth more than $6bn by bribing Nigerian officials. KBR, which has caused controversy for its role in Iraq's reconstruction, had been part of Halliburton. Mr Stanley was accused of breaching anti-bribery rules under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act over a decade-long period. Today's plea demonstrates that corporate executives who bribe foreign government officials in return for lucrative business deals can expect to face prosecution," said Matthew Friedrich, acting assistant attorney general.As well as criminal charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made civil charges against Mr Stanley. Along with others involved in the scam, Mr Stanley "determined it was necessary to pay bribes to individuals within the Nigerian government in order to obtain contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities in Bonny Island, Nigeria," said the watchdog.
Nigeria's
EFCC,
Icheoku asks, when is your effort going to yield a prison term for a
ll those insanely-corrupt officials in Nigeria including those implicated in the
Siemens bribery scandal? The whole world is getting tired of all the road-shows being put up by your agency in the guise of fighting corruption in Nigeria and it is time you delivered or pack up your tent and go home. It is incredible as it is stupendous the pandemic corruption in Nigeria as well as the lip-service effort at eradicating it!