By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, said the Commission has recovered over N40bn and $966, 900. 83.
Speaking on Tuesday during the celebrations of his one year in office, the ICPC bass said the recovery was part of his strategic plan for the year.
While giving the breakdown, he said, “We recovered ₦29.700 billion in cash, domiciled in ICPC recovery accounts, N10.986 billion VAT recovered and remitted to FIRS, N10 billion covid-19 vaccine fund meant for production of vaccine remitted to the treasury and Value of asset through final forfeiture – N2.5 billion.
Speaking further, he said the commission retrieved $966,900.83, now secured in the ICPC-CBN account balance brought forward.
“The Commission just completed the tracking of 1,500 projects, valued at N610 billion, nationwide under CEPTI Phase.
“Upon completion of tracking field work last week, follow-up activities are ongoing and the report is being collated. However, the report of the Phase 6 exercise conducted about this same time last year is ready and will be released to the public today.“
On prosecution, he said the commission processed 851 petitions, with 342 assigned for investigation, 95 fully investigated, 72 cases filed in court, and 16 convictions secured.
“In this regard, we are streamlining our processes to ensure faster and more effective prosecution of cases, leading to the resuscitation of 10-15-year-old cases in courts.”
He added that the commission has advanced the fight against sexual harassment and corruption in educational institutions and public offices, achieving ongoing prosecutions and increased public support.
On his part, Francis Ben Kaifala, Commissioner Anti Corruption Commission of Sierra Leone, said
to effectively fight corruption, government must be deliberately about its policies.
He said the government should make corruption a high risk and low return venture.
“Self evaluation of our work helped us realise that we needed to make corruption
a high risk and low return venture. We saw the need to introduce a strategies that will be more beneficial to the State and People of Sierra Leone, and this involves recovering misappropriated and stolen funds and assets.”
