The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, on Monday, expressed support for the comment made by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that many of those seeking to occupy political positions ought to be in jail.
Bawa, who spoke with journalists in Lagos, said the commission could not stop politicians undergoing trials from contesting since there was a presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a competent court.
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“Baba is right because there are some people out there that we have cases against, but there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty; even if the matters are in court, if the judge has not pronounced them guilty, they still have the right to contest election that is the situation we have found ourselves in.
“There are some instances, there are quite a number of them who we are prosecuting in court and journalists have written articles about them depending on how you got your information, “he said.
Bawa said that the radical reforms he carried out since the assumption of office last year were yielding results as the commission secured a total of 2,220 convictions across all its commands in 2021.
He said it was the highest conviction secured by the anti-graft agency since inception.
He added that the commission recovered N152.09 billion and $386.22 million from various cases in 2021, adding that the anti-graft agency also recovered huge sums of money in other foreign currencies.
The EFCC boss solicited the support of media professionals in the country in the fight against corruption while pledging that the commission under his watch was not interested in media trials but intelligence-driven prosecution of cases.
He said the commission had embraced technology and intelligence in its investigative focus.
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