Senate may establish special financial crimes court

 President of the Senate, David Mark

A bill seeking to establish a special court to deal with financial and economic crimes in the country has passed first reading in the Senate.

The draft bill, which was obtained by our correspondent, entitled, ‘The Economic and Financial Crimes Court Bill 2013’ is sponsored by Senator Abdulmumin Hassan.

Section 1 (1) of the bill states, “There is established a court to be known as the Economic and Financial Crimes Court.”

Subsection 2 provides, “The court shall consist of: (a) the President, who shall have overall control and supervision of the administration of the court and (b) not less than 12 judges.”

It also provides that the court will be a superior court of record; and except as may be otherwise provided by any enactment of a law, will have all the powers of a High Court.

In spelling out the structure of the court, the bill states in Section 2, “The President of the court shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, subject to confirmation by the Senate.

“The appointment of a person to the office of a judge of the court shall be made by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council.

“Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall constitute a body of experts of not less than five members to be responsible for interviewing a nominee for appointment as a judge of the court.

“The nominee shall not be qualified to hold the office of the president or judge of the court unless he is engaged in a professional interview by a constituted body of experts.”

The body of experts, the bill prescribes, will comprise a member of the Body of Benchers with the exclusion of the Chief Justice of Nigeria; two members of the Nigerian Bar Association; a member of the Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria; and a member of any other professional body in the field of Finance and Economy.

The court’s jurisdiction, according to the bill, shall be concurrent with the Federal High Court, State High Court and High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in criminal matters such as (a) offences under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act; (b) offences under the Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Act; (c) offences under the Money Laundering Act; (d) offences under the Advance Fee Fraud and other related offences Act; (e) any other offence under any Act prohibiting corruption, (e) any other offence under any Act prohibiting corruption, economic and financial crimes in Nigeria.

The bill also provides that the National Assembly may by an Act, confer such additional jurisdiction on the court in respect of such other causes or matters incidental, supplementary or related to those set out in earlier sections of the bill.

On appointments to the court, it states, “A person shall not be eligible to hold office of the President of the Court unless the person is qualified for a period of not less than 10 years and has considerable knowledge and experience in the law and practice of financial and economic crimes in Nigeria.

“A person shall not be eligible to hold the office of a judge of the court unless the person is a legal practitioner in Nigeria and has been so qualified for a period of not less than 10 years and has considerable knowledge and experience in the law and practice of financial and economic crimes in Nigeria.”

The Chairman, Senate Committee  on Drugs, Narcotics and Anti-corruption, Senator Victor Lar, also confirmed that another bill emanating from the House of Representatives was seeking to prune down the number of policemen in the EFCC and replace them with more effective civilian professionals.
The Punch