Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau, Mr. Sam Saba
The Code of Conduct Bureau on Wednesday said that it had commenced the verification of assets declared by outgoing ministers in order to compare what their current possession with what they declared. The CCB said it would prosecute any minister found to have defaulted in their declaration at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
The CCB in a statement by its Head, Press and Public Relations Unit, Mrs. Idowu Jokpeyibo, said the Conference Verification of Assets declared by Ministers which started in September, 2010 would end in March.
She said, “Verification of Assets declared by public officers is to ensure that what is declared is confirmed through the scrutinisation of relevant documents, assets profiling and tracking. Through this method, anticipatory and false declarations are exposed.”
Jokpeyibo disclosed that the Bureau had already verified the assets of 18 ministers in the exercise, adding that “the remaining 22 ministers who are to be verified before the end of February have already been notified and they are expected to come with all supporting documents of properties declared in their Assets forms.”
She asked ministers who had been notified of the days of their verification to turn-up as scheduled in order to enable the agency conclude its duties ahead of time.
It warned that failure to turn- up for conference verification exercise amounts to a breach of the code, saying “offenders will face prosecution at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.”
The CCB also advised Ministers who have resigned their appointments or wish to resign “to make their end of tenure declaration at the code of Conduct Bureau office as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution or face prosecution.”
The Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Chapter 56 LFN 1990 gave the CCB the mandate to establish and maintain a high standard of public morality in the conduct of government business.
The statute also empowers the Bureau to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standard of public morality and accountability.
To implement its mandate, Section 3, part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has provides that the Bureau may receive declarations by public officers under paragraph 11 of part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution; Examine the declarations in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct or any Law; retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescriber.”
The Chairman of the CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, had last year said the Bureau would no longer wait for the end of public officers’ tenure before verifying their assets declaration in order to stop corrupt politicians from contesting the 2011 general elections.
Saba, who spoke on a visit to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, in Abuja said that the bureau would ensure that only credible and honest people were elected in 2011.
Admitting that the task ahead of it was daunting, Saba said that the paucity of funds was hampering the bureau from going the whole hog; a development he said had been communicated to President Goodluck Jonathan.
From intelligence reports, he said that the Bureau got wind that political office holders, especially lawmakers, were still operating foreign accounts.
He said that the CCB had compiled a list of ex-ministers that failed to declare their assets and forwarded them to the office of the attorney-general and minister of justice for further action.
Saba said, “We will no longer wait till the end of tenure of the political office-holders before verifying their assets. As soon as they submit their forms, we will investigate and we will need the cooperation of the EFCC.
“We will also start to verify claims made in the asset declaration forms filled when they are leaving the office four months before the end of their tenure. What is left now is funding.”
During the visit, both Saba and Farida renewed their commitment to the fight against corruption and sought a synergy with the Independent National Electoral Commission, political parties, security agencies and the intelligence community ahead of the elections.
Farida regretted the conduct of past and serving political office-holders undergoing trial for corruption, noting that they had perfected the art of manipulating the judiciary to stall or elongate their trial.
Asked whether the commission was empowered to stop an aspirant from contesting, outside the court, she said every effort would be made to stop them.
“Legally, I will say we are. We are empowered to look into that and that is why all of us will work together. Some of these politically-exposed persons are responsible for stalling these cases in court.
“We will even raise that as an issue to stop them. Their cases are very popular in Nigeria; the assets of some of them have been seized and yet they want to contest the 2011 elections.
“Some of them have been posting campaign posters around. It is only in Nigeria that a court will grant somebody a perpetual injunction from being arrested or investigated. It is just a mockery of our judiciary.
“But we will not allow those who want to get to office to go and steal blind. They make promises when campaigning, but when they get to office, they shut their door against the people that voted them into office,” she said.
She added that some politicians would claim to have built non-existent houses or acquired imaginary property in anticipation of what they hoped to steal when they settle down in office.
Blaming the country’s underdevelopment after 50 years of independence on corrupt leaders, she said that it had become a fad among them to steal money and launder them, leaving the poor to suffer.
She said it would not be a bad idea if the Nigerian government declared amnesty, for the corrupt politically-exposed persons to repatriate such funds and use them to establish industries.
The chairman said that the gesture would bridge the unemployment gap and enhance the local economy.
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