President of the Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George SAN has said that the Federal Government has devised a means to checkmate criminals who no longer fear prison sentences as long as they can enjoy their loot afterward.
According to a Tuesday statement issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the university don said this at the opening ceremony of a 4-day capacity building workshop on the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2023, at the EFCC Academy, Abuja on Monday.
Akinseye-George, who is a Professor of Law, identified greed as the major driver of crime as criminals no longer bother about going to prison, knowing that the proceeds of the crime are available for them to enjoy after serving their sentence, and maintained that the new Act popularly known as POCA is designed to put an end to such trend.
Meanwhile, the Acting Executive Chairman of EFCC, Abdulkarim Chukkol, charged law enforcement agencies to take advantage of the Act to improve their assets tracing and recovery efforts with the aim of delivering greater benefits to the country.
The EFCC boss who spoke through Dr. George Ekpungu, Secretary to the Commission, said the commission was poised to take the lead in the enforcement of POCA.
“Our various Departments, particularly Proceeds of Crime Management Department, are poised to key into the economic recovery and development strategies of this administration which emphasizes crime prevention and uncompromising recovery of assets illegally obtained from the country.”
The Commandant, EFCC Academy, Commander of EFCC, Ayo Olowonihi in his remark, emphasized the importance of taking away benefits from crime.