The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has dismissed more than 40 employees for corruption and financial malpractice over the past three years, as the anti-graft agency steps up efforts to police its own ranks.
Ola Olukoyede, EFCC chairman, disclosed the dismissals Monday in Abuja during a briefing on its performance under his leadership. More than five of the affected employees are currently facing prosecution, while case files involving others are being prepared for possible court action, he said.
“In the past two and a half years or three years of my service, I’ve asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice,” Olukoyede said. “More than five of them are being prosecuted at the moment.”
Olukoyede said the commission’s approach to misconduct among its employees should be consistent with how it handles corruption allegations involving people outside the agency. Staff members found to have engaged in wrongdoing should not simply lose their jobs without facing the same legal consequences that the EFCC pursues against others, he said.
“Because if that is what people do in other agencies and I arrest them, I investigate them, I prosecute them, why must I just dismiss you if you do it within our own system and I’m not prosecuting you?” he said.
