We'll be going after Lawyers who help looters escape justice - EFCC Boss, Magu

EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu speaking at the event

Speaking at the opening of a one-day workshop organised by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) at the Rockview hotel in Abuja on Tuesday, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, said the anti-graft agency will soon go after senior lawyers who aid and abet financial and economic crimes.

In a statement issued by Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC spokesman, Magu said at the workshop organised in collaboration with the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACC), that the EFCC could not stamp out corruption in the country without the support of all stakeholders.

“We consider everybody a stakeholder, as the EFCC does not have monopoly of knowledge to defeat all shades of graft,” he said.

The EFCC boss urged legal practitioners to always play by the rule and avoid being used by corrupt elements to pervert justice, adding that “what is important is the interest of the nation which should be placed above any other interest”.

Ibrahim Magu who commended the bar for being good partners in the fight against graft, however decried the attitudes of some lawyers who compromise on their jobs for criminals to escape justice, adding that lawyers have a greater stake in the war more than any other class of professional.

In reiterating his commitment towards fighting money laundering, the EFCC boss warned that, “we will not stop going after people who are involved in laundering money”.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, the law is a respecter of nobody especially those who commit crime. Whether you are EFCC, SAN or whatever, sooner or later we will start going after people who buy properties with stolen funds as well as people who help others to escape justice,” he said.