LAGOS - Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye on Wednesday berated lawyers for aiding money laundering and abetting corruption.
Owasanoye spoke as a discussant on the topic “How corruption fuels Insecurity and Bad Governance : The Role of Lawyers in Tackling Corrupt Practices in Nigeria” at the ongoing Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA held at Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island.
He said lawyers act as middle men for suspects in most money laundering and corruption cases.
Citing a case under investigation where the money involved was traced to the account of a lawyer,
Prof Owasanoye said:
“When we got to the account, the looted money has been further transferred to so many accounts in an effort to frustrate investigation.”
In the case of courts, the ICPC Chairman said the courts is in the habit of issuing orders stopping anti-corruption agencies from investigating and making arrests.
“The biggest culprits are senior lawyers and it is a matter of regret that the NBA is not doing anything about it,” he said.
Prof Owasanoye disclosed that every year, a lot of phantom projects are included in the budget saying that where the money involved is in small bites, it is not easily discovered but when in large bites, they are easily discovered.
“What we do at ICPC is that we take the budget, we break it down, and bring out the padded amount”, he said.
Chairman, Civil Society Against Corruption, Olanrewaju Suraju, in his contribution to the topic, noted that senior lawyers are in the habit of defending corrupt politicians.
Suraju berated senior lawyers for not defending the rule of law saying that they are agents of money laundering and undermine the legal profession.
“These lawyers allow corruption of judicial officers and judges to the extent that some lawyers in opposition are abused by court clerks”, he said.
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