CCB: Public officers are afraid of declaring assets

The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) says many public office holders are afraid of declaring their assets.

Mohammed Isah, chairman of the bureau, said this during a town-hall meeting on the fight against corruption in Abuja, on Thursday.

The event was organised by the ministry of information and culture.

Isah said the bureau has investigated 200 cases and filed 75 of them at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). He added that 100 cases are still pending at the CCT.

“The CCB is so powerful that it polices everybody. The most talked about is assets declaration. Many public officers are afraid of assets declaration but there’s nothing to be afraid of in it. We have investigated 200 cases, filed 75 cases at the tribunal and about 100 cases pending at the CCT,” he said.

“The amount involved in the over 200 cases investigated is N40bn and if successfully prosecuted, the Federal Government will benefit. We are working with the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to block those accounts with no debit further.

“We are working to improve on our relationship with the Code of Conduct Tribunal to fast-track the prosecution of our cases and have reached an understanding that all the cases that are pending, both the ones we met when we came in and the ones we have been able to file, will be fast-tracked to have an accelerated hearing to ensure timely prosecution of the cases.”

The chairman earlier said the level of compliance with the declaration of assets by public office holders in the country was not encouraging.