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 a 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 told one of our
correspondents 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.
Source from Sunday PUNCH
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