The Federal Government will soon submit an anti-graft bill that rules out the option of fine for people convicted of corruption to the National Assembly, KURAMO NEWS authoritatively reports.
The bill, which is aimed at ensuring that only proportionate punishments are meted out to very important persons convicted of corruption, will be sent to the National Assembly before the end of the first quarter of the year.
A reliable source in government toldKURAMO NEWS over the weekend that the initiative was spurred by the light sentence given to an assistant director of the Police Pension Office found guilty of by an Abuja Federal High Court.
The court, on Monday, had sentenced John Yakubu Yusuf to a two-year jail term or a fine of N750,000 for his involvement in fraud totalling N27.2bn. He was, however, given an option of fine in the sum of N750,000 for the three offences he pleaded guilty to.
Justice Abubakar Talba had also ordered that the accused person should forfeit 32 houses in the Federal Capital Territory and Gombe as well as N325m which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said were proceeds from the crime.
Investigations by our correspondents on Friday showed that the presidency was concerned by Talba’s verdict and its impact on the image of the country.
The Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, confirmed that a new bill was in the works.
Okupe said, “I am aware that the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Justice is preparing a bill on the administration of criminal justice, which I believe will soon be submitted to the National Assembly.
“Are you aware that if a case is going on at the high court and the judge is promoted and a new judge comes, the case will start afresh? What kind of justice is that? These are the issues that need to be corrected.
“This issue of the pension scam made us unhappy. The judgment was shocking. When we found out that the maximum sentence for the offence was two years, I was upset. So, even if the judge had exercised the maximum punishment, it would still not be enough; it would still and not be alright.”
Similarly, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati, said “ongoing reforms” would be extended to the judiciary.
“The whole idea of strengthening the judicial sector is important to this administration. For you to talk about the rule of law and make the rule of law effective, the end of justice must be served and for the end of justice to be served, the legal framework must be contemporaneous and must inspire confidence.
“This is because the judiciary cannot serve the purpose of the people if the people themselves do not have confidence in the ends of law,” he said.
A top source at the Federal Ministry of Justice, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said the new bill would not contain an option of fine for anyone that was indicted for corruption.
The source cited sentences given to some very important persons, who were convicted of corruption as one of the reasons that prompted the amendment.
Such cases include that of the former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru; and a former Edo State Governor, Mr. Lucky Igbinedion.
“Such cases will no longer have the option of fines once the bill is passed by the National Assembly. Anyone found guilty of corruption goes to jail. It should be ready before the end of the first quarter of the year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association has called for a review of the country’s criminal justice system.
NBA President, Mr. Okey Wali, SAN, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the telephone, said Talba was not to blame for the light sentence.
Wali, however, queried why the pension thief was charged under a law that carried such light sentence.
“Our laws are archaic, the framers of the laws never contemplated the kind of crimes we have today. That is why the NBA has continued to push for law reforms.
“There is a need for law reforms. I suspect that that is where the problem lies. It is a very wrong signal for a man convicted of stealing such a huge amount of money to be let off the hook like that.
“But it is not about the judge, it is about the quality of prosecution and the quality of proceedings that took place in court.
“If the law said seven years and then the judge gave give him two years, then you will blame the judge.
“What we have to ask is why he was charged under a law that gives a maximum of two years’ sentence.”
Foremost constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, however blamed the judge for the light sentence passed on the pension thief.
Sagay said the development was made possible because of the corrupt nature of the society.
“The judge should not have given him an option of fine. He should have given him two years for each of the three counts he pleaded guilty to and make them run consecutively so that he would serve six years. The judge is to blame.
“To start with, the law has to be amended; they should not give an option of fine for stealing pension funds. The death penalty should be imposed for that because it is a capital offence to steal pension funds — in doing so you are killing people.”
Another senior lawyer, Mr. Mike Ahamba, SAN, noted that, although Talba acted within the provision of the law, he did not exercise his discretion properly.
In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, Ahamba said, “The judge has convicted the man of the offence so he has made him a felon.
“The nature of the judge’s powers is that he has discretion over punishment — that is why we have allocution.
“But I don’t think he has exercised his discretion in a proper way. The way he exercised his discretion was not proper.
“Treating corruption felons with kid gloves cannot help our anti-corruption campaign. The punishment as it is stands as an encouragement to others.
“My view is that the National Assembly should step in with appropriate legislation to provide effective punishment – at least 10 years plus restitution.
“A punishment of two years or N750,000 is unfortunate in a country trying to get out of corrupt practices.”
Similarly, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Yusuf Ali, said the sentence did not meet moral expectations, especially as it failed in its duty to serve as a deterrent to other corrupt public officials.
“There are two levels of this matter — there is the technical part and the sociological or moral point of view.
“On the technical aspect, you have to look at the law within which the judge passed the sentence. Did he act within the law?
“If he did, looking at the nature of the offence, will the punishment meet the end of justice?
“The judge is right because the law provides sentence for different offences.
“But under our jurisprudence, one of the issues the judge should have considered is the gravity or prevalence of the offence.
“When you want a punishment to serve as a deterrent to others, the punishment should be severe enough to make the convict know that crime does not pay.
“Looking at it from this perspective, the current sentence failed. It made a mockery of the offence. There should be prescription for life punishment without an option of fine in addition to final forfeiture of assets.”
The National Judicial Council, the only body empowered by law to discipline judicial officers, including judges, however told SUNDAY PUNCH that it would not interfere in Talba’s case unless it receives a petition.
The spokesman for the NJC, Mr. Soji Oye, said he was not aware of any petition against Talba.
“NJC is like a court — a court that judges the judges and like any court, it cannot sit to determine a matter unless a suit or petition is filed before it.
“If a petition is filed against a judicial officer, the NJC will set up a committee to deliberate on the allegation, and in the course of the investigations, the concerned judicial officer will be invited to face the panel and defend himself.
“After that, the committee will report back to the council and then a decision will be taken.
“If there is cause for any form of punishment, the council will take a decision to that effect, if there is no need for that, the judicial officer will be absolved of the allegations brought against him.
“But at the moment, I don’t know if there has been any petition against the judicial officer in this case,” he said.
Efforts by our correspondents to find out the number of pending petitions against judicial officers were not successful as of the time of filing this report.
But a source in the NJC, who pleaded anonymity, told one of our correspondents that there were several petitions against judges in the council.
“The petitions come in every day,” he said.
Many Nigerians have condemned the sentence Justice Talba gave to the pension thief.
On Wednesday, members of civil rights groups protested at the Ministry of Justice, National Assembly and the Supreme Court.