– Preliminary checks by FG shows that five of the SANs were handling cases against the interest of the government in some high-profile corruption cases and did not indicate it when joining the team
– The FG’s team of special prosecutors comprises 80 lawyers, mostly in private practice, and those drawn from the Federal Ministry of Justice who are grouped into 20 sub-teams with each led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
– Sunday Isah, the spokesperson for both the AGF and the NPCC, has confirmed the investigations but said it is still ongoing
Abubakar Malami’s office of the attorney-general of the federation is probing its special anti-corruption team for conflict of interests.
The Federal Government has kicked off investigation of its own team of special prosecutors in the bid to find ones who are working against its interest in prosecuting corruption cases.
According to The Punch, not fewer than five of the 20 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) on the team have been reportedly found to be guilty of working against the government’s interest in corruption cases.
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Recall that just last week, the attorney-general of the federation Abubakar Malami, through his spokesperson, Salihu Isah, said Charles Adeogun-Phillips was sacked as the lead prosecuting counsel, handling the trial of a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, over allegation of conflict of interest.
The Punch reports that though Adeogun-Phillips, a member of the special prosecutors, denied the allegation of conflict of interest, Isah, had said more lawyers found to be guilty of similar ‘offenses’ and would be dropped from the team.
A source in the federal ministry of justice as saying that preliminary checks had shown that five of the SANs were found to be handling cases against the interest of the government in some high-profile corruption cases even though they did not indicate it in a form they filled when employed by the FG.
The source said: “Unfortunately, none of them gave any indication that they were handling such high-profile cases; otherwise, they would have been dropped immediately.
“The danger is that there are a lot of strategic meetings the prosecutors have with the NPCC.
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“Some of the strategies require collaboration with other agencies. So, it is likely that some lawyers, who are part of the prosecutors’ team and also defending some of these high-profile suspects, will have access to privileged information which they can use to the benefit of the suspects they are defending.
“From that, you can see where the issue of conflict of interest arises.
“Through some preliminary random checks, at least, five of the SANs have been found to be handling such cases that put them in a position of such conflict of interest.
“There are some of the SANs who are defending a former governor and other high-profile suspects.”
The source added, “I can’t say exactly when those lawyers will be dropped because the full investigation is just about to begin.
“The investigation is expected to yield more discoveries. So, at the end of the day, we may have more than five lawyers who will be dropped from the team.”
When contacted on Sunday, Isah, who is the spokesperson for both the AGF and the NPCC, said, “The process is ongoing, though we have not got to the stage of dropping any lawyer.”
The FG’s team of special prosecutors comprises 80 lawyers, mostly in private practice, and those drawn from the Federal Ministry of Justice who are grouped into 20 sub-teams with each led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
The National Prosecution Coordination Committee (NPCC), which oversees the activities of the prosecutors’ team and assigns cases to the prosecutors, is headed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN).
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