A former prosecutor with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Chief Godwin Obla ( SAN ) , says the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under the leadership of its suspended acting Chairman , Ibrahim Magu , has refused to pay him a joint sum of N 763.9 m in legal fees .
He , however , said amid several demands for his pay, Magu ordered his detention and prosecution on trumped up charges of bribing a judge .
Obla said this while reading out an 18 -page letter to the Justice Ayo Salami -led Presidential panel titled , ‘Presentation In Respect of Malicious and Reckless Abuse of State Power of Investigation and Prosecution Resulting in Mismanagement of Forfeited Assets by Deliberate and Contrived Incompetence and Suspicious Dealing of Forfeited Assets ’.
The senior advocate testified before the panel in the presence of Magu at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa on Monday. He also presented 12 questions to the panel which he said the suspended EFCC chairman must answer and made five recommendations
Obla , who presented over 10 documents to the panel including his bill of charges , said he prosecuted 40 cases for the EFCC including those of former bank chiefs sacked by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Lamido Sanusi and also helped the commission recover hundreds of billions of naira in cash and assets .
He said , “As of date , the EFCC owes me an outstanding balance of N 685 , 389 , 928 . 10 and $202 ,460. 47 ( N 78 . 5 m ) or its naira equivalent at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria exchange rate, together with interest at prime lending rate , being professional fees for the prosecution of over 40 high profile cases . See Statement of Claim in Suit No : FCT /CV /3220 /17 BETWEEN Obla v. EFCC. ”
The senior advocate said all subsequent letters sent to the EFCC were ignored but the fee was never contested. He said rather than pay him his legal fees , Magu decided to level several allegations against him in order to discredit and deny him his due .
“ In effect ,Ibrahim Magu deliberately and maliciously denied me the fruits of my services for EFCC whilst putting me to great expense to defend a worthless charge , ” the lawyer said .
