Posted by By IKE NNAMDI, The Sun Reporter New York on
American law enforcement authorities may interrogate but will not arrest former governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani during his expected visit to the country. Officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Treasury Department made the clarification, following a petition by an anti-corruption group, The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders In Nigeria.
American law enforcement authorities may interrogate but will not arrest former governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani during his expected visit to the country. Officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Treasury Department made the clarification, following a petition by an anti-corruption group, The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders In Nigeria.
The group asked the agencies to arrest and try Dr. Nnamani for alleged offences committed during his tenure at government house Enugu.
The group alleged that the former governor operated several foreign accounts in the U.S. and owned extensive property and businesses. But an FBI agent, Juan Ramirez, said, the agency will not arrest Dr. Nnamani because he has been charged and being tried by a 'court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria."
He said the former Enugu State chief executive has also been cleared to travel to the U.S. 'We may discuss certain issues with him, but have no reason to arrest him.
'It will amount to double jeopardy to interfere in the process at this time. He has been cleared to leave the country by a court and unless there is another unrelated issue, he is free to visit the country," agent Ramirez said.
Sources disclosed that the FBI's position is a fall-out of a visit to Nigeria by an investigative team two weeks ago.
The team was in Abuja to compare notes with their Nigerian counterparts on investigations into several accounts traced to former and serving government officials. While it is not clear if the visit was related to the Nnamani case, sources said the team made efforts to contact the former governor.
During the visit, the FBI agents also asked the Ministry of Justice to approve the arrest and freezing of the accounts of the some officials.
A treasury official said Washington is still awaiting the decision of the ministry officials.
'We will only act on the information we have gathered after Nigeria approves our request. At the moment, the ministry has refused our request to interrogate some of the affected officials," the official said.
A top official of the Ministry of Justice in Abuja denied blocking the American request. ' We are a sovereign country and will study any request by a foreign agency to interrogate any of out citizen. It is a matter of law and not designed to frustrate efforts to crack down on corruption," the official stated.