By James Adamu Abuja
The Senate is proposing to divest the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), among others, their power to manage the proceeds of crime.
Their duties are to be restricted to investigation, prosecution of suspects and recovery of the proceeds of crime if a new bill before the Senate is eventually passed.
The bill seeks to amend the “Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022”, to take the power of managing the recovered assets from the anti-graft agencies to a new agency to be established under the proposed bill.
The proposed legislation passed second reading on Tuesday.
The EFCC, the ICPC, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and 15 other agencies are listed in Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the extant Act, charged with duties ranging from investigation to seizure/recovery and management of the proceeds of crime.
The sponsor of the new bill, Sen. Adebule Idiat Oluranti (APC, Lagos-West), in her lead debate, argued that transferring the power of managing recovered assets to a separate agency would allow for efficiency and transparency in the management of the proceeds.
She noted, “This amendment seeks to ensure transparency, checks and balances in the management of recovered assets designated as proceeds of crime, as well as the introduction of policies and guiding principles that creates unified regulations and processes for the management and disposal of forfeited assets.
“Establish an agency vested with the administration and management of forfeited or recovered assets and properties designated as proceeds of crime. This centralised agency will be charged with the responsibility to collaborate with the directorates
of proceeds of crime in the eighteen (18) agencies of government referred to in the POCA Act as ‘relevant organisation.’
“To further strengthen the proceeds of crime Act with the amendments that will provide for the creation of a data bank for all assets and properties that are proceeds of crime forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria under an Automated Forfeited Assets Management System.
“This provision will be a significant addition as an automated asset forfeiture management system will store information about all the assets and properties that are proceeds of crime in a way that will grant controlled accessibility to authorized institutions and agencies for the promotion of effectiveness, efficiency, transparency and accountability.”
A few senators raised objections to the bill, saying that it would amount to duplicating the functions of the EFCC and other agencies currently fighting corruption and other economic crimes.
However, the majority of senators supported the bill and passed it for second reading.
The session was presided over by the Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Barau Jibrin.
The bill was later referred to the Committee on Justice, Human Rights and Legal Matters for further legislative measures.
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