The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has said he does not need the tinkering of the current Economic and Financial Crime (Establishment) Act 2004 to enable him regulate the institution and could therefore not, in any way, seek to sponsor any bill for “more powers to control the commission”.
The AGF was quoted to have said this in a statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday 25th August 2020.
It also noted that the Attorney-General of the Federation has indisputable statutory powers to regulate the operations of the commission without recourse to any additional legislation.
“Section 43 of the EFCC Act has made it abundantly clear that ‘the Attorney General of the Federation may make rules or regulations with respect to the exercise of any of the duties, functions or powers of the Commission under this Act’,” the statement read in part.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice believes in the doctrines of separation of powers as an epitome character of the democratic administration and could not, therefore, meddle into the affairs of the legislature for megalomaniac sake”.
Speaking further, Malami noted that it is a global practice in democratic societies that the legislature may at their discretion and as deemed fit, spearhead the amendment of existing legislation to accommodate certain exigencies occasioned by contemporary realities and the need to improve performance to achieve best practices without any prompting from external organs of the government.
The statement, therefore added that at the moment, the priority of the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is to see to the effective execution of its statutory mandates of supervising all the parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Justice in a way that make them function in the best interest of the general public.
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