No to bill on amnesty for treasury looters

The death knell may finally sound for the Federal Government’s anti-corruption crusade if a bill pending before the House of Representatives seeking amnesty for treasury looters is allowed to sail through.

Nigerians who stole public funds will be shielded from probe and prosecution, provided such money is brought back and invested in the economy. The bill was read in the Green Chamber for the first time on June 14, 2017 and scaled through the second reading in July.

Sponsored by Honourable Linus Okorie, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi State, it is titled “A Bill For An Act To Establish A Scheme To Harness Untaxed Money for Investment Purposes And To Assure Any Declarant Regarding Inquiries And Proceedings Under Nigerian Laws And For Other Matters Connected Therewith.”

The bill, the sponsor explained, “seeks to allow all Nigerians and residents who have any money or assets outside the system or have acquired such money or assets illegally (looted or any variant of the cliché) to come forward, within a set time-frame to declare same, pay tax/surcharge and compulsorily invest the funds in any sector of the Nigerian economy; and be granted full amnesty from inquiry/prosecution.”

It proposes that 25 per cent of the money will be paid as tax to be shared by the three tiers of government and 30 per cent invested in agriculture. The rest will be invested in any choice sector of the economy.

President Muhammadu Buhari on assumption of office on May 29, 2015, made the recovery of Nigeria’s looted funds and the prosecution of such looters a priority of his administration. A measure of impact is being recorded, especially with the recently introduced whistle-blowing policy. Ill-gotten wealth and stolen funds from public coffers are being exposed with the method. It will amount to a mockery of the entire efforts if the bill becomes law. It is a bill that seeks to protect the corrupt ruling class and its cohorts from the long arm of the law.

Whatever is its good intention, the immorality of it negates the principle of justice. Those who plundered our collective wealth should be held accountable for their misdeeds. Besides, it conflicts with Nigeria’s obligation under the United Nations convention against corruption which is meant to establish territorial criminal jurisdiction over corruption acts, prosecute offenders and apply prescribed sanctions through fair trial.

This bill is highly unsavoury and unbecoming in a country where mindless treasury looting has led to mass poverty, a landscape littered with abandoned projects and an economy shackled with infrastructure deficits. Its will encourage more looting and remove deterrence to political and economic criminality.

We call on the House of Representatives to discard the bill without further delay.

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