The former boss of anti corruption agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrhaim Lamorde has finally been promoted to a deputy Inspe
The former boss of anti corruption agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrhaim Lamorde has finally been promoted to a deputy Inspector General of Police.
Lamorde who until his latest elevation was a police commissioner who was also on the police management team. He was passed over for promotion two years ago following concerns that his elevation over four of his superiors may unleash internal bad blood.
Following his removal from the EFCC, Lamorde became the AIG in-charge of Force Intelligence and last year, he got redepolyed to the Department of Research and Planning and Directorate of Intelligence, FHQ, Abuja
Lamorde was appointed Acting Chairman of the EFCC on 23 November, 2011 after the then chairman, Farida Waziri got dismissed by President Goodluck Jonathan. His confimation as chairman was finally ratified by the Senate on 15 February 2012. He however got the sacked on 9 November 2015 by President Buhari who replaced him with Ibrahim Magu who has also been sacked.
While he presided over the EFCC, Lamorde was accuused of enriching himself. Of particular concern was an allegation of $5bn which went missing at the commission. He however denied the allegations saying it was a smear campaign. He also said that even if all the money recovered by the EFCC was added up, together with its funding from government, it would not total $5bn.
The man who wrote the corruption petition against him was a security consultant called George Uboh. Coincidentally, Uboh was currently fighting charges of stealing government property, which he also denied
Some of the things he was accusing Lamorde of was that the EFCC operates accounts in banks to warehouse recovered funds which do not reflect in EFCC’s audited account; that the EFCC doctors and manipulates bank accounts to conceal diversion of funds; that the EFCC releases recovered funds to unidentified persons and EFCC officials; that EFCC moves fund from its recovery accounts to EFCC operations account from where it diverts same;
that over 95 per cent of EFCC recoveries in foreign currencies, other than those from multi-national companies, had been diverted.
Other allegations was that EFCC trades with recovered funds through bank deposits and placements; that EFCC colludes with real estate companies in order to grossly under value seized assets before they are sold to their cronies;
that EFCC has not accounted for offshore recoveries and that over half of the assets seized from suspects were not reflected in EFCC exhibit records.
In 2016, an arrest warrant was issued against him by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, who began investigating allegations of corruption against him. Lamorde took off and ran abroad to avoid answering the corruption allegations.
He soon returned to the country but refused to appear before the senate and even went on to organise a wedding for his daughter in Abuja, with VIPS in attendance, most of who his commission was ‘investigating’ while he was the head of EFCC.
