There are indications that
politicians in the country have begun to lobby the Code of Conduct
Bureau in a bid to amend some of the information in the asset
declaration forms that they had earlier submitted.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the
development is because of fear of arrest as this is coming in the light
of the ongoing trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of
Conduct Tribunal over alleged false declaration of assets.
Investigation by Saturday PUNCH
showed that state CCB offices have become busier following Saraki’s
ordeal at the CCT, but sources told our correspondents that it was too
late for politicians to change the information they had earlier given to
the bureau.
For instance, sources in the CCB office
in Delta State disclosed that some politicians, including senators and
members of the House of Representatives, have been lobbying officials of
the bureau to grant them permission to amend the asset declaration
forms they had submitted.
According to the source, politicians in
the state had until now taken the exercise for granted, believing that
they could never be prosecuted over it.
The source said that President Muhammadu
Buhari’s anti-corruption stance and the trial of Saraki at the CCT
seemed to have jolted the politicians.
Confirming that politicians have begun
lobbying CCB officials, the source, who did not want to be named, added
that officials of the bureau have recently had to take their security
more seriously as a result of the fresh attention drawn to it by
Saraki’s prosecution.
The source said, “The Saraki trial has
caused politicians to become jittery. They have been gripped by fear of
arrest because of the recent political events and some of them have been
secretly visiting our offices to lobby some of us. They include
senators and members of the House of Representatives.
“Some of the politicians that have been
coming are highly placed. Before now, they took everything for granted,
knowing that they are in the same party with the government at the
centre. With the recent developments, many of them are now rushing to
amend the information given on their asset declaration forms.
“They say there might be errors in their forms and that they are willing to make the necessary adjustments.”
Our correspondents also learnt that
politicians in Ondo State have been approaching officials of CCB to
assist them in amending the forms they had submitted to the bureau.
One of the officials, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, informed one of our correspondents that some
politicians in the state, who were believed to have lied about their
assets in the disclosure forms, have been pleading with officials of the
bureau to allow them to review their information.
He said, “Some of them have been coming
to us to amend some information on their forms, but there is nothing we
can do about their request, because the forms had already been forwarded
to Abuja and there is no way we can retrieve them again, at least from
our own end here. I don’t know of any other means.”
The source, however, denied that
officials of the bureau have been conniving with politicians to cover up
for those who declared false assets, saying, “That is criminal,
everybody is now very careful. This is an era of change and nobody wants
to play with his job again.”
But a source at the CCB office in Enugu
admitted to one of our correspondents that politicians sometimes want to
review information they submitted in their forms, attributing it to
their ignorance.
He said nobody is allowed to review information already put in such asset declaration forms.
He, however, regretted the possibility
of some officials of the bureau conniving with politicians to make
illegal amendments in the forms.
“Anything is possible,” he said, adding
that “It is also possible that some staff of the bureau would conspire
with politicians” to rectify completed assets declaration forms.
In the same vein, he revealed that, most
times, officials of the CCB assist politicians in filling their asset
declaration forms.
He said the CCB usually works with the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, disclosing that the bureau
recently aided the anti-graft agency by making the asset declaration
form of a former governor of the state available for corruption charges.
The official said, “The CCB is usually
involved in the investigation of corruption cases, particularly those
involving elected public office holders.
“I know for a fact that when the EFCC
brought charges against a former governor of this state (Enugu), we made
input in the investigation because the assets declared at the beginning
of the tenure were taken into consideration before the case was filed.”
In Rivers State, an official of the CCB,
who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak on
the issue, however, described efforts by politicians to lobby the
bureau’s officials as a waste of time.
The source also told Saturday PUNCH
that once asset declaration forms were filled and submitted by
politicians, it would be criminal for any official of the CCB to allow
an amendment to the document.
Explaining that the filled forms were
always sent to the CCB headquarters in Abuja after submission by
politicians, the official insisted that such forms would not be returned
even if they were still in the state.
The source said, “We have their
(politicians) slips and completed forms, which have already been sent to
the CCB in Abuja. Since the politicians had already sworn to oaths that
whatever they filled in the forms as their assets is correct, they
cannot come for amendments.
“It (amending or altering asset
declaration) is not right; it is not possible and it is a criminal
offence. It is not possible for any of us here to be involved in
anything like that.”
The Ekiti State Director, CCB, Mr.
Akinfolarin Feyisola, said there has been no lobbying of officials of
the bureau by politicians in the state, adding that any official found
wanting would be prosecuted.
He said, “We don’t have such cases here.
The state office does not have the power to investigate and verify
assets declared by anyone, except with the authorisation of the Federal
Commissioner.”
A source at the CCB office in Osogbo
told one of our correspondents on Friday that asset declaration forms
filled by political office holders in Osun State had since been
submitted to Abuja.
He said there was no way any politician
could return to the state office to ‘rectify’ any falsehood in the asset
declaration forms already submitted to them.
The State Director of the CCB in Akwa
Ibom, Mr. Ime Obot, disclosed that when public officials in the state
declare their assets, his office lacks the power to work on the contents
or even view them.
According to him, as soon as a public
official declares his assets in the form, which is enclosed in a sealed
envelope, the agency’s duty in Uyo is to forward same to its
headquarters in Abuja for further actions.
On politicians lobbying some workers of
the agency to manipulate the contents of the documents in their favour,
Obot said such situation does not exist in the state since his office
does not have power over asset declaration.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Code of Conduct
Bureau, Sam Saba, said he was not aware that politicians had started
lobbying officials of the agency to rectify their asset declaration
forms.
He said this in a text message in response to inquiries made by our correspondent in Osogbo on Friday.
Saba said, “As a matter of fact,
verification of assets and liabilities of governors, lawmakers and
others is a shared responsibility between the headquarters and state
offices.
“Teams to verify are drawn up at the
headquarters including staff from respective states. The teams are
headed by Federal Commissioners on a zonal arrangement.
“I am not aware that politicians have
been lobbying officials of the CCB to block loopholes in the forms
filled that are already in its custody. Such requests have not reached
our Abuja office.”
