- It also enumerated some of the challenges hampering the swift prosecution of corruption cases and securing convictions
- It stated that judges give verdict based on technicalities rather than the facts and national interest
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has bemoaned the use of legal loopholes and judicial instruments to obstruct the course of justice in the fight against corruption.
This is as the antigraft agency bemoaned its inability to secure convictions in corruption cases, including high-profile ones.
It also enumerated some of the challenges hampering the swift prosecution of corruption cases and securing convictions.
Speaking with newsmen in Kaduna, the spokesman for the EFCC, Wilson Uwajaren, disclosed that the losses the agency suffered are due to what he described as frivolous court judgements.
He stated that judges give verdict based on technicalities rather than the facts and national interest.
He also noted that arbitrary adjournment of corruption cases, among other factors, played a role in its travails.
Uwajaren, who shared the insight at a one-day workshop for media practitioners on Effective Reporting of EFCC activities held in Kaduna state, also disclosed that the commission secured about 7,700 convictions across the country in 2022.
In his remarks, the acting Chairman of the commission, Abdulkarim Chukkol, expressed concern over the rising Internet-related fraud among the youth in Kaduna State.
The EFCC boss, who was represented by the acting Zonal Commander in the state, Aisha Abubakar, lamented that the active involvement of youths in Internet-related fraud had the tendency to smear the image of the country and consequently discourage hard work and legitimate means of livelihood.
He urged the media to beam its searchlight on the menace of Internet crimes and adequately inform the public about the activities of such criminal elements in order to safeguard them from falling victim to fraud.
Chukkol also restated the “unwavering” commitment of the EFCC towards eradicating all forms of economic and financial crimes in the country, noting that such efforts had led to the conviction of over 100 financial crime offenders in the Kaduna zonal office alone
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