Why We Won't Prosecute CCT Chairman - EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday defended its failure to put on trial the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Justice Danladi Umar over the N10 million bribe levelled against him.
The commission said on Wednesday that its action was informed by the fact the facts presented against Umar were not sufficient to sustain his prosecution. The anti-graft agency said that the so called facts were mere suspicions which in law, cannot take the place of proof. In a memorandum forwarded to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the EFCC, however, confirmed that one Ali Gambo Abdullahi, a Personal Assistant to the CCT boss admitted receiving N1.8 million in 2012 from one Rasheed Taiwo standing trial at the tribunal.
The said Abdullahi was alleged to have used his salary account at Zenith Bank to collect the graft. In the letter dated March 5, 2015 and signed by the immediate past Executive Chairman of EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde, the complainant in the bribery saga, Mr Rasheed Taiwo, a retired Deputy Comptroller General of Customs was said to have failed to produce the alleged telephone conversations and text messages exchanged between him and Justice Umar.
The former Customs chief was said to have persistently claimed that he had lost his phone since 2012 and could not trace or recover it.