Mrs. Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, a former Presidential Aide, has urged the Executive arm of government to re-launch the aborted Proceeds of Crime Bill 2019, to guarantee the safety of the country’s recovered loots.
NAN reports that the bill, is a 12- part bill which makes comprehensive provisions for the confiscation, forfeiture and management of property derived from unlawful activities.
Ibekaku-Nwagwu, an erstwhile Special Assistant to President Muhammadu on Justice Reform gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
She said the hallmark of the bill was to ensure transparent management and appropriation of recovered funds for the benefit of citizens.
She said the bill when passed into law would give legal backing for the establishment of Proceeds of Crimes Recovered and Management Agency.
Ibekaku-Nwagwu further explained that the Proceeds of Crimes Act was imperative to complete the chain of the anti-graft fight by the president.
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According to her, the law will in no small help to address citizens’ doubt on how government recovered funds are been used.
NAN reports that the executive bill which passed second reading in both arms of the National Assembly was refused presidential assent.
Ibekaku-Nwagwu therefore, explained that the executive must without delay articulate all the missing links to re-launch the bill, adding that its passage was vitally important for the overall success in the fight against corruption.
“The bill contains comprehensive provisions for the confiscation, forfeiture and management of properties derived from unlawful activities.
“Prosecutors can leverage on the provisions of the Act to take custodians of properties, manage them or even disposed of them while the cases are still pending in courts to forestall the devaluation of such properties.
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“The existing practice where the laws prevent such take over has exposed many properties captured in litigation to lie fallow and remain susceptible to depreciation after the case is concluded.
“This bill intends to bring to an end all grey areas that inhibit the wholesome fight against corruption in both public and private spaces as well as transparent management of proceeds of corruption’’, she said.
NAN recalls that the bill provides for an effective legal and institutional framework for the recovery and management of the proceeds of crime or benefits derived from unlawful activities.
It also deprives a person of the proceeds of an unlawful activity, the instrumentality of an offence and any other benefit derived from an offence committed within or outside Nigeria.
It further prevents the reinvestment of proceeds of unlawful activity in the furtherance of criminal enterprise.
On the feat achieved by the All Progressive Congress- led Federal Government, Ibekaku-Nwagwu said it was no longer in doubt that Buhari was incorruptible.
Ibekaku-Nwagwu who contested the Enugu-West Senatorial Zone in the last general election said the government had applied workable safety nets against public stealing.
She noted that the president’s political will to activate the effective use of Bank Verification Number brought to an end the pervasive use and maintenance of multiple bank accounts for money laundering.
She also explained that the introduction of the Treasury Single Account was another laudable policy that had brought accountability to public accounting procedures.
“The TSA summarily brought to an end, the multiple accounts maintained by Ministries, Departments and Agencies for fraudulent purposes.
”The president must be given credits for these feats’’, she said. (NAN)
