By Tayo Joseph, Lagos
For the umpteenth time, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is constrained to alert the public on the activities of fraudsters who have been extorting prominent office holders including sitting governors, ministers, and national chairmen of leading political parties, using the name of Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Commission.
Members of these criminal gangs, from available information, have been writing invitation letters to some politically exposed persons on the pretext that such communication emanated from the office of the acting chairman of the EFCC.
The Commission has had cause to issue public disclaimer of such fraudulent letters, still the criminals are undeterred. The situation is made worse by the fact that not all recipients of such fraudulent invites had the courage to seek clarification.
The EFCC wishes to dissociate itself from the activities of these criminal gangs. It is important to state that Mr. Magu has not written or mandated any one to write any invitation letter to any state governor and has no reason to do so as they belong in the category of officials that enjoy constitutional immunity from criminal prosecution while in office.
The Commission urges this category of public officers to be circumspect and verify the authenticity any supposed invitation from the acting Chairman of the EFCC in order not to be ensnared by fraudsters.
Also, there have been instances in the past in which fraudsters cloned the email and Facebook accounts of the EFCC Chairman and were sending messages demanding bribes from unsuspecting members of the public.
Under no circumstance should members of the public offer gratification to any one that claims to be an officer of the EFCC. Indeed such demand for gratification is enough indication that an impostor was up to mischief and should immediately be reported to the nearest office of the Commission or police station.
Magu has not mandated any one to approach anybody to collect bribes on his behalf. Any one claiming to represent his interest in any such unwholesome transaction should be apprehended.
