Court for special crimes under way –Sagay

 

The Federal Government may soon establish a Special Crimes Court to adjudicate on corruption, kidnapping, cyber crimes and drugs cases in the country.

This was disclosed by the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, Thursday, who stated that his committee was working on Special Crimes Court, which when completed and passed into law, will make the fight against corruption and other grafts faster.

“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, cyber crimes and drugs.”

Sagay stated this in Lagos at the 2016 Lecture and Media award of the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents, NAJUC, entitled The Judiciary, Media, Anti graft agencies and the fight against corruption.

According to Sagay, the committee had made various reforms that would tremendously aid the speedy dispensation of justice of high profile corruption cases in the country.

“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,” he said.

It would be recalled that the Buhari-led government had earlier announced the constitution of a 20-man committee on prosecution of high profile criminal cases. The body to be known as National Prosecution Coordination Committee (NPCC) is to be headed by Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami.

However, Ripples Nigeria investigations had revealed that the body may have been hurriedly put together, as a prelude to the setting up of a special court to try high level corruption cases.

A government source had told Ripples Nigeria that “he (Buhari) is disappointed with the many gaps created by the prosecution agencies. I do not want to mention names here but there seem to be too many loopholes that could make it possible for high profile criminals to walk away from justice.”

Another source in the opposition had also told Ripples Nigeria that “Ultimately, his intention might be to set up special courts to try the likes of Dasuki, Metuh, Fani-Kayode, Nnamdi Kanu, and Nigerians must demand explanations from the APC government.”