The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, during the week shocked the world to reveal the
illicit roles being played by legal practitioners to aid the political
class in defrauding the nation.
Addressing delegation of the
Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) who paid him a courtesy visit, Magu said
unprofessional conducts of some lawyers is giving the NBA a bad name.
He
said, “Society is not served when prominent members of the bar not only
take clearly tainted briefs, but even facilitate the commission of
crimes by knowingly supplying the technical know-how and later, helping
in the dispersal of the proceeds of crime.
“There are lawyers within the fold of the NBA who ought not to be among your noble ranks.
“Those people are not fit to be called ministers; rather, they are vandals of the temple of justice,” he alleged.
Consequently, he charged NBA to join hands with the commission to stamp out corruption in the country.
He
also decried the practice by some members of the NBA who he said were
aiding individuals and corporate organizations to perpetrate economic
and financial crimes, stating that the input of lawyers would be needed
to successfully wage the war against fraud, corruption and money
laundering.
“Law
enforcement, just as the judiciary, encompassing the bar and the bench,
is a critical link in the justice delivery system of any society. I
dare say that even when opinions and tactics differ, the interest of the
two blocs cannot but converge on the overriding interest of the
people,” he said.
Magu,
who stated that no other anti-graft agency in Nigeria had beaten the
record of the EFCC in the areas of prosecutions and convictions, further
described the ordinary Nigerian as the victim of money laundering,
embezzlement, diversion of funds and frauds.
He, therefore, urged
them to share in the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari’s war against
corruption, while also congratulating the body for supporting the EFCC
over the years.
Earlier, the president of NBA, Augustine Alegeh,
expressed the reason behind the courtesy visit, saying that it was to
salute the courage of Magu in the corruption war.
Mr. Alegeh, a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, also said the EFCC and NBA needed to work in
synergy for the war against corruption to be won.
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