EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede
Susan Abayomi
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has dismissed more than 40 of its staff members over alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the past three years.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed this on Monday during a media briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja to mark his three-year stewardship of the anti-graft agency.
According to Olukoyede, more than five of the affected personnel are currently facing prosecution for alleged corrupt practices, while case files involving others are being prepared for possible prosecution.
He said the commission would not shield its personnel from legal action when they are found to have engaged in the same corrupt practices the EFCC investigates among members of the public.
“In the past two and a half years or three years of my service, I’ve asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice. More than five of them are being prosecuted at the moment,” Olukoyede said.
The EFCC chairman stressed that officers of the commission must be held to the same standards of accountability and integrity that the agency demands from individuals under investigation for financial crimes.
As part of efforts to strengthen internal discipline, the commission has also renamed its former Department of Internal Affairs as the Department of Ethics and Integrity.
Olukoyede said the change was intended to reinforce the agency’s focus on ethical conduct, accountability and what he described as an internal cleansing process.
He added that the EFCC would continue to investigate and take appropriate action against personnel found to have violated the law or the commission’s standards of conduct.
