The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), has disclosed that his committee was not involved in compiling the lists of looters released by the Federal Government.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had on Friday, March 30 and Sunday, April 1 released the controversial looters’ lists.
The lists upon release had generated much controversy as many persons mentioned on them threatened to sue the minister for defamation.
But in an interview with The Punch, Sagay denied that his committee was involved in the compilation, saying that the anti-corruption agencies compiled the list.
He said, “We (PACAC) have nothing to advise . Those who compiled the list are the anti – corruption agencies : the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ; the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission; and possibly the Code of Conduct Bureau . Those are the people who have investigated and put on trial the people mentioned in the list . We don’ t deal directly with issues like that at all. We are more of a think tank , providing guidance , coordination and capacity building for the anti – corruption agencies . If an agency needs information from another , we help to coordinate. We also propose laws that can help to improve the chances of achieving either the successful prosecution of looters or the successful recovery of property from them . We do a lot more , but we are not directly in charge of looters . For instance , if I want to know more on a looter , I will still have to call the agencies and request information and they will give me .”
However, he called on anyone not satisfied with the Federal Government’s lists to come forward with theirs.