Daily Independent Online.
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Thursday, June 17, 2004.
ICPC can’t probe IBB, Abubakar - Akanbi
Rotimi Fadeyi,
Senior
Correspondent, Abuja
Chairman Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice
Mustapha Akanbi, on Wednesday called for a review of the law establishing the
commission, four years after it was set up to clean up white collar crime.
Akanbi said at a press
conference in Abuja marking its fourth anniversary that unless the law is
amended, it would be difficult to achieve the purpose for which it was created.
He argued that ICPC
has limited jurisdiction and, therefore, cannot investigate those who served in
public office before June 2000 when it was established.
According to him, the
law does not permit it to investigate past Heads of State, such as Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami
Abubakar and others or any suspected corrupt public officers who served before
June 2000.
Said Akanbi:
“The law does not permit me to investigate Babangida and other military
Heads of State as being suggested by you or any suspected corrupt public
officers who served before June 2000 in this country.
“I am aware that the expectations
of many Nigerians is to see many past heads of state, governors or military
administrators’ names on the list of those being investigated by this
commission. Many are disappointed because such names have not appeared on the
list of people we are investigating.
“The truth of
the matter is that even if the commission receives complaint about these people
who had earlier held offices in the past, there is little or nothing the
commission could do because it cannot investigate any corrupt practices that
occurred before the commission was established”.
He also lamented that
ICPC lacks the funds to realise the objectives for which it was created.
Some N1.5 billion has
been provided the commission in the last three years, with N486 million voted
for it in the current budget.
Akanbi wondered why
the government would establish ICPC, “appoint competent hands to man it
only to frustrate it from performing by starving it of funds”.
It has so far received
1,270 petitions, 608 of which have been deal with - 34 of them taken to
court.
Those charged to court include directors of teaching
hospitals, lawyers (including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria) and police
officers.
