The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has launched an international manhunt for all persons suspected of complicity in the $2.1bn arms scam, the N676m immigration job scandal and other high profile cases.
Our correspondent learnt on Wednesday that the EFCC had sent the names of the suspected individuals to the International Police Organisation.
A reliable source at the commission told our correspondent that INTERPOL had been asked to keep some of the suspected individuals under watch while some others would be arrested immediately if sighted.
The source said, “We are seeking INTERPOL’s assistance to establish the exact locations of these persons and to help us to monitor their movements. If these persons are travelling from one country or the other, we would be alerted at the airport.
“Once we can get them, we will approach a court and get an extradition order.”
The source explains that there are two methods of getting a person that has fled abroad. One is to report to INTERPOL and then INTERPOL gets them wherever they are. The second method is to officially seek their extradition through diplomatic means.
“When you go to court, the court will issue a bench warrant or an order for extradition and it is the court paper you will send to the government of the jurisdiction where the persons are. That is Mutual Legal Treaty Assistance,” the source added.
Some persons indicted by the EFCC, including ministers who served under the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan, have since fled the country and have refused to honour EFCC invitations.
For instance, the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Bello Adoke (SAN), has refused to honour an EFCC invitation over the $2bn Malabu scam since December and even said in an open letter to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo that he would not honour the invitation because there was a plot by his political opponents to embarrass him.
An anti-graft agency in The Hague, Netherlands, was confirmed on Tuesday to have searched Adoke’s residence, following collaboration with the EFCC.
Also, one of those charged in the immigration job scandal, Mahmood Ahmadu, in connivance with Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd, allegedly lavished N423m of the N676m extorted from the applicants on several properties.
The EFCC had also accused a former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, of an alleged N2bn fraud.
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