Posted by By Ayodele Aminu on
The Nigeria Police Force and the international police (INTERPOL) have commenced moves to trail fugitives suspected to have contributed to collapse of many banks in the country.
The Nigeria Police Force and the international police (INTERPOL) have commenced moves to trail fugitives suspected to have contributed to collapse of many banks in the country.
Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr. Ganiyu Ogunleye who made this disclosure at the conference of prosecutors at the weekend in Lagos, also said the names of the fugitives would be published.
'The Police shall soon public the names of absconded accused persons and with the assistance of (INTERPOL), maintain a watch list of suspects who have escaped from the country," he said
The NDIC boss who lamented that no single case has been tried and determined conclusively since 1999 when the Failed Banks Act was amended to date, decried the spate at the which judges had been conniving to frustrate the conviction of accused persons.
'Between 1994 - 1999, a period of 5 years, the 14 Failed Bank Tribunal tried and conclusively disposed of 45 criminal cases and 672 civil/debt recovery cases. Furthermore, there were 95 criminal and 1660 civil cases pending before the Tribunals before dissolution," he said.
He however, noted that 'since 1999 to date, no single case had been tried and determined conclusively on merits in any of the Federal High Courts handling failed bank matters."
Rather, he said experience of the Corporation is that the convictions obtained at Tribunals are being challenged by the convicted persons.
'It is noteworthy that a few convictions have been overturned on the ground that criminal charges were not properly drafted. As a result, the appellate courts held that some convictions were based on offences (for example, fraudulent granting unauthorized credit facilities) not known to the law," he added.
Given these scenarios, he asked the conference prosecutors the following rhetorical questions.
'What are the challenges? Do we need to amend the Failed Banks Act, if so can the conference identify the amendments required? Why the incessant adjournments? What is the answer to the challenge to the Hon. Attorney-General's Fiat? Is there any way round interlocutory appeals which, in my view do not serve any purpose other than to delay trails? How come convictions/charges are being struck out for being defective or unconstitutional? What is the solution to apprehension of absconded accused persons so that trails can proceed in those cases?
'Indeed, the issues are numerous but I am consoled by the fact that assembled in this forum are some of the finest legal brains in Nigeria and so I trust that you will come up with pragmatic solutions to the myriad of problems confronting us," the NDIC boss challenged participants at the conference.
Noting that the Corporation has continued to explore avenues of improving the situation, he disclosed that after his recent meeting with the Inspector General of Police, it was resolved that the Financial Malpractices Investigating Unit be beefed up with more officers who are professionally trained.
It would be recalled that the Failed Banks (recovery of debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act 9 (FBA) was established in1994 by the Federal Government to try directors, officers and customers of banks who were involved in fraud and other malpractices and also to recover debts owed to distressed banks. The Act mandated the both the CBN and NDIC to implement its provisions.