Magu: Judgment Stopping EFCC from Investigating Rivers Govs will not Stand …Rivers second to Lagos in money laundering

The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has said the commission would prosecute Rivers State governors for economic crimes as the judgment stopping it from investigating the state governors will not stand.

This is as he stated that the state is second only to Lagos in money laundering in the country.

Magu stated this on Tuesday at the EFCC Zonal office in Port Harcourt while briefing journalists on the activities of the commission in the state.

On the judgment restraining the commission from investigating and prosecuting Rivers State governors on financial crimes, he said: “Nothing is going to stop us, even the issue of the court order allegedly obtained by Dr Peter Odili and co to stop the EFCC from investigation and prosecution has been overtaken by events even though the matter is still at the Supreme Court.

He insisted, “I am telling you that, that judgment cannot stand, it will only take some time. It cannot hold and we are going to conclude the investigation. There are so many investigation we are doing, we will take it before the court, let the court refuse to prosecute their case. I am sure the matter has suffered for about 13 years now. We are going to test it. The matter is in the Supreme Court. We will follow it up.”

 

He stated that the court judgment restraining the commission from prosecuting the state governors had been overtaken by events and other declarations, adding that nothing would stop the commission again.

His words: “That decision that is pending in the Supreme Court does not actually, cannot hold water again. There are subsequent judgments that have discarded it. Clearly, there are other judgements that came up and said nobody, not even the judge, not even the Judiciary, not even the court can stop us from investigating and prosecuting.”

Magu also stated that Rivers State is the second capital of money laundering in Nigeria, after Lagos.

The EFCC boss, who said commission would leave nothing unturned to track and expose every form of criminal activities in the country, noted that the reason for the rate of money laundering crime in Rivers State was because of the nature of its oil business terrain.