EFCC to prosecute 3 persons for altering presidential pardon list

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is set to prosecute three individuals found to have been involved in the alteration of the 2022 presidential pardon list.

Pulse had earlier reported that former governors of Plateau and Taraba states – Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame – had been released from prison as they were part of the individuals whose names made it to the pardon list.

Meanwhile, an EFCC investigation has revealed that the three indicted individuals were detected to have smuggled in the name of a jailed former Managing Director of a bank, whose case was never considered by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy.

The report by the anti-graft body, however, exonerated the acting Director of the Administration of Criminal Justice and Reforms Department, Leticia Ayoola-Daniels and another official of the Federal Ministry of Justice.

The three persons indicted in the EFCC report were listed as one senior official in the secretariat of the PACPM; an Assistant Chief State Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice; and an agent of the former bank MD.

A source told The Punch on Wednesday night that the EFCC swung into action following a June 6, 2022 letter from the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), requesting for the probe of members of the PACPM over allegations of conspiracy, abuse of office, bribery and corruption.

Malami had set up the PACPM to collate applications regarding cases of inmates who have served jail terms, which might be considered for presidential pardon and prerogative of mercy, and advise President Muhammadu Buhari accordingly.

The committee executed its task and submitted a report which was tendered before the President and the Council of state on April 14, 2022.

However, it was later discovered that the name of the jailed former Managing Director of a bank, who was not recommended for pardon, had been smuggled in.

As reported by the paper, the EFCC's report revealed that a member of the PACPM secretariat and an Assistant Chief State Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice had received bribe from an agent of the jailed banker to insert his name into the list.

“Efforts are in top gear to arrest the other co-conspirators and upon the conclusion of the investigation, the case file will subsequently be forwarded to our legal and prosecution department for vetting and prosecution”, the report said.

Pulse reported that one of the beneficiaries of the pardon, Dariye, has shut down rumors making the rounds that he will be running for Senate under the Platform of the Labour Party.