The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it has begun the processes of investigation that would help the Federal Government trace and recover the N1.34 trillion allegedly stolen by government officials.
The move, it said, followed the revelation by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammad, that 55 Nigerians stole over N1.34 trillion from public coffers between 2006 and 2013.
Speaking on a TV Programme in Abuja, the Chairman of ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, said the alleged stolen money could be traced.
Nta said ICPC was analyzing intelligence reports on the issue and would go into action at the conclusion of its analysis with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book.
He said, “Some of these revelations have put to fore the issues bedeviling the country and giving us bad names. What has now been put in the open, we have to sift it and that is what we have been doing.
“That money must come from somewhere; if it was appropriated by government through the National Assembly, it is going to be traced. If it comes from the bank, it makes life easier for everybody.”
The Chairman further spoke on new strategies being put in place by the Commission to stop the looting of public funds by civil servants and political office holders.
The ICPC boss, who also spoke on the independence of the ICPC, stressed that he had never experienced any interference or received directives from government on any investigation.
Nta said, “From written reports of my predecessors, I can say that there has never been government interference. No government has ever directed me to go after anybody. The past government did not do that and the new government has not done that.”
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