Forensic experts yesterday alleged growing cases of fraud, cybercrime
and corruption in the country despite government’s effort to address
these problems.
At a press conference in Abuja, the Pro tem
President of the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative
Auditors of Nigeria, Ayishetu Enape, said that the country’s loss to
corruption “currently is in the region of trillions of naira.”
The
institute said: “It is more worrisome to know that despite the Federal
Government’s renewed efforts in tackling fraud, corruption and
cybercrime, very little result has been achieved, especially in the area
of securing conviction against perpetrators of fraud in Nigeria.
“This
is because many of the cases, especially the high-profile ones, are
either thrown out for want of evidence or are unnecessarily delayed and
stuck in court for years, due to one reason or the other,” Enape said.
According
to the institute, whose bill awaits assent by President Muhammadu
Buhari, forensic investigation remains one of the potent means by which
the country can tame the growing cases of fraud, cybercrime and
corruption.
Enape stated that fraudsters could only be prevented
if those who commit crimes are prosecuted with forensic evidence,
stressing that the application of forensic investigation would create no
hiding place for corrupt citizens.
Citing data from the Nigerian
InterBank Settlement System (NIBBS), which show that Nigerian banks
lost N12.30 billions to fraud in the past four years, and other data,
which show that fraud volume in the banks increased from N1.461 billion
in 2014 to staggering N23.043 billion in 2017, Enape said: “the
situation right now is worse than the above analysis because fraud
volume in Nigeria has now moved to trillions, and no longer in
billions.”
On the bill for an act to establish the Chartered
Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria
(CIFIPN), which is now before the president for assent, Enape said it
was important “to clarify that CIFIPN is neither an accounting body nor
coming as a duplicate to the functions of any existing accounting bodies
in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, the Independent Corrupt Practices and
other related Offences Commission (ICPC) said it had sent an invitation
letter to the suspended Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for
the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Okoi Obono-Obla.
The
spokesperson of the commission, Rasheedat Okoduwa, told The Guardian
yesterday in Abuja that the letter was sent through the office of the
Solicitor General of the Federation.
On when Obono-Obla would
report to the commission, she said: “He would have been given the letter
stating the date and time to come because when we invite anybody, we
don’t leave it open- ended, it is always within a particular time frame.
When other developments occur, we will let you know, but he has been
invited,” Okoduwa said.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday ordered the suspension of Obono-Obla as the chairman of the panel.
The
presidency said the “suspension shall be in effect until the conclusion
of ongoing Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences
Commission (ICPC) investigations into a number of cases relating to Mr.
Obono-Obla.”
The suspension came after an extensive investigation
conducted into Obono – Obla ‘s academic credentials by the anti-graft
agency.
He is facing allegations of certificate forgery and other
corruption-related charges. On Friday, his office located in Asokoro
was sealed by some armed police officers.
Obono-Obla, however, in
a statement said it was difficult to know why his office was sealed
because of the Eid-el-Kabir holidays. He alleged that some highly placed
Nigerians “wishing to protect some persons under investigation were
arm-twisting the panel officials, thereby distracting the panel from
carrying out its lawful mandate.”
According to him, the panel has
examples of many high-profile cases in which misappropriated public
funds were traced to the personal bank accounts of public servants, and
rather than explain the sources of the funds, they resort to false
petitions and unfairly attacking the officials of the panel.
{Naijafinix.com}
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