Special Court for prosecution of financial crimes underway- Sagay

Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), on Thursday said that special courts for the prosecution of financial crimes in Nigeria would soon be established.

Sagay revealed this at the 2016 Lecture and Award Ceremony of the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents (NAJUC), Lagos chapter, with a theme: “The Judiciary, Media, Anti-graft Agencies and the Fight Against Corruption”.

He stated that, “My committee has concluded the drawing up of the Special Crimes Act for judges who will be specifically selected to adjudicate special crimes such as financial crimes, kidnapping, cybercrimes and drugs.”

He said the committee had made various reforms that would tremendously aid the speedy dispensation of justice of high profile corruption cases in the country.

His words: “We have created a new manual for prosecution of financial cases which will give prosecutors a step by step process for prosecution.

“We have recommended that for effective prosecution, the prosecution should be made up of a team comprising of an investigator, prosecutor and other lawyers.

“A series of workshops have been organised by the committee for 180 prosecutors across the country in which we brought in a number of experts to teach them how to draft charges to prevent the charges being faulted in court.

“I am involved in the anti-corruption Struggle. I have never received a call from the President giving me instructions on anything. He has assigned responsibilities and he is facing the governance of the country which is what he was elected for.

“We regard corruption cases from the last administration as low hanging fruits because they are the most obvious and have the most impact in terms of resolution, he said.”