**EFCC’ll recover all stolen money, says MaguThe Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, ordered that founder of Daar Communications Plc., Chief Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi, be remanded in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, pending the determination of his bail application today.

Dokpesi, who is the owner of African Independent Television, AIT, and Raypower Radio, was docked before the court by the Federal Government which brought a criminal charge of N2.1bn money laundering crime against him. Dokpesi had earlier pleaded not guilty to the 6-count criminal charge, which also involved breach of public trust and procurement fraud.

Dokpesi had been in custody of EFCC in the past eight days facing interrogation from operatives of the anti-graft agency on the huge sums he allegedly collected from the office of the former National Security Adviser, NSA. In the charge sheet, signed by Aliyu Yusuf, Deputy Director, Legal and Prosecution Department of EFCC, the accused was alleged to have between October 2014 and March 2015 conducted procurement fraud by fraudulently receiving N2,120,000,000 into the account of Daar Investment and Holding Company for the funding of media activities for the 2015 presidential election campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The alleged offence is contrary to section 58 (4) (b) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 and punishable under section 58 (6) and 7 of the same Act. Part of the 6-count charge reads: “That you Dr. Raymond Dokpesi and Daar Investment and Holding Company Limited between October 2014 and 19 March, 2015 in Abuja, conducted procurement fraud by means of fraudulent and corrupt act, to wit: receipt of payment into the account of Daar Investment and Holding Company Limited with First Bank of Nigeria Plc. of public funds in the sum of N2,120,000,000 from the account of the office of National Security Adviser, NSA, with the Central Bank of Nigeria for the funding of media activities for the 2015 presidential election campaign for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 58 (4) (b) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and punishable under Section 58 (6) & (7) of the same Act”.

“That you Dr. Raymond Dokpesi and Daar Investment and Holding Company Limited between October 2014 and 19 March, 2015 in Abuja, entered into a purported contract on presidential media initiative and received payment in the sum of N2,120,000,000 into the account of Daar Investment and Holding Company Limited with First Bank of Nigeria Plc. from the account of the office of National Security Adviser, NSA, with the Central Bank of Nigeria on account of the purported contract without a ‘Certificate of No Objection to Contract Award’ duly issued by Public Procurement Bureau and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 16 (1) (b), (4) & (5) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and punishable under Section 58 (6) of the same Act.” Attempt by counsel to the accused, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, to move application for his bail yesterday was unsuccessful as the prosecution counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, insisted that he had just been served with a copy of the bail application.

Jacobs told the trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, that he needed time to study and react to the fundamental issues raised by the accused person in the bail application. By consent of the two lawyers, Justice Kolawole fixed today for argument on whether to grant the bail to Dokpesi or not. However, the trial of the charge has been fixed for January 17, 18 and February 2 and 3, 2016. Meanwhile, EFCC has vowed to recover all public funds siphoned under the guise of arms procurement by prominent Nigerians now in its custody.

The commission’s acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, who gave this hint at events to mark this year’s international anti-corruption day in Abuja, said his men were working hard to recover the stolen funds, even as he disclosed that substantial amount of money had been recovered from fraudsters. “I can assure you that the commission is on top of that investigation. We will spare no effort to ensure that we recover every kobo of public funds that have been stolen in the guise of arms procurement and the culprits brought to justice,” he said. Magu, who declared at a seminar organised by the Inter-Agency Task Team, a common platform for anticorruption and accountability in the country, disclosed that the commission had secured 78 convictions from 280 cases filed in court this year, while 1,881 cases were investigated. Besides, he said several interim and final forfeiture orders were given by courts even as funds were being recovered.

The new EFCC boss, as many other speakers, praised the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for creating an enabling environment to fight sleaze and promised that the commission would fight corruption in a firm, fair, accountable and transparent manner. The anti-corruption crusader said he had embarked on internal cleansing of the commission to improve efficiency and reposition it to deliver on its mandate. He listed the implementation of its strategic plan and other institutional reforms as measures to increase the capacity to fight corruption.

He solicited the cooperation of all civil society organisations and other critical stakeholders in the battle against corruption as part of the Commission’s concerted effort to surmount all hindrances. Earlier, Attorney- General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, expressed regret that corruption had stunted the capacity of the country to attain economic development even as he restated the resolve of the present government to purge the nation of the cankerworm. Specifically, he identified a linkage between good governance and economic development and bemoaned the poverty level in the country despite its potentials.

“There is a wide gap between revenue generation, appropriation, utilisation, public officials’ transparency, probity and the effect on the nation’s development,” he stated. The minister, who was represented by Barrister Sylvester Imanhobe, lamented that the country’s profile was worrisome, listing high cost of doing business owing to poor power supply, official corruption and high crime rate; high maternal mortality and large number of children out of school; high illicit capital flight and 800,000 deaths on the highways every year.

“The problem of corruption in Nigeria is not in the inadequacy of penal laws, sanctions or lack of institutional framework. Rather, attention must be directed at strengthening the capacity of the enforcement agencies to detect and prosecute offenders,” the chief law officer said. However, he promised to expedite action on three laws, including the National Financial Intelligence Center Bill, Proceeds of Crime Bill and Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, designed to reinforce the fight against corruption. Ms. Lilian Ekeanyanwu, head of the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-corruption Reforms, organisers of the forum, said the anti-corruption day had been marked in the country since 2009 as a strategic approach to measure the fight against corruption and make it all-inclusive.