The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse
Sagay, has faulted a former Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar
Suleiman, regarding the culpability of former President Goodluck Jonathan in
the current anti-corruption cases.
Suleiman,
who is the spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party Ministers’ Forum, had
said in an interview that Jonathan could not be held liable because no stolen
funds had been traced to the ex-president’s personal bank accounts.
The
ex-minister had said, “All these issues of corruption under Jonathan happened
between March and April last year. It was purely an election issue. Nobody has
traced any money to Jonathan’s account up till now, but money was traced to
Abacha’s accounts.”
However,
Sagay said during an interview on Sunday that
although he could not say if there was a case against Jonathan or not yet, the
ex-President could be held liable if it could be established that Jonathan made
illegal approvals for funds to be paid into other people’s accounts.
He
said if, for instance, it could be established that Jonathan gave the Central
Bank of Nigeria a directive to pay someone money and the person was not
deserving of that money, then the ex-President could be indicted.
Sagay,
who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, added, “Only the EFCC can say if Jonathan
is culpable. Guilt in criminal law requires proof and there must be evidence.
So, what I would say is that if a case can be established against Jonathan as
regards public funds, then he has a case to answer.
“I
don’t know if that has been done. I have not seen anybody who says he was given
the money by Jonathan himself although one can say that instructions to any
institution that public funds should be released to other people for purposes,
which those funds were not designated, is in itself a criminal affair.
“So,
it is not only when money is found on you that you have a case to answer. If
you are a person in authority, and you issue directives to people under you,
who are keeping public funds like the Governor of the Central Bank, and an
illegal order is given to him for the release of funds, that, in itself, will
raise a case for Jonathan to answer if in fact he issued such an order.”
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