The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has accused Sahara Reporters of falsehood and imaginative storytelling. The EFCC on Wednesday dissociated itself from an investigative report by Sahara Reporters which claimed that it obtained information from the agency concerning an alleged bribe received by Justice Kafarati of the Federal High Court in Abuja from embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
Justice Kafarati on Tuesday disqualified from the case brought before his court by Senate President Saraki following allegations of bribery against him by the online news platform.
Sahara Reporters following the Judge’s announcement ran the headline: “Billionaire Judge Withdraws From Saraki’s Case Over Saharareporters Investigative Report”. The EFCC in a statement obtained by The Whistle wrote as follows;
The attention of the EFCC has been drawn to media reports on the decision of Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja to decline ruling in the fundamental human rights enforcement case brought before him by Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
The judge blamed his decision to disqualify himself from the case on a Tuesday March 21, 2016 report in an online news medium, alleging that he had been bribed to rule in Saraki’s favour. Justice Kafarati, according reports in Thisday Newspaper of March 23, 2016 claimed the online platform quoted the EFCC as the source of its information.
Against this background, it has become necessary to state that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC had no hand in the report which is entirely the imagination of the authors.
All allusions to the Commission’s investigation or documents in the said publication should be disregarded. At no time did the EFCC share intelligence or reveal the content of any dossier it may have on any judge for that matter with any media organization either in Nigeria or abroad.
The Commission wishes to state for the umpteenth time, that it believes in the rule of law and will not take extra-legal measures to ridicule or embarrass any member of the public that may or may not be under investigation. The court is the final arbiter in cases of corruption. What the law expects of the Commission, which it has been doing, is to charge people investigated and indicted of any offence under the relevant laws to court. There is no other way.
