EFCC: We don’t torture suspects

Ibrahim Lamorde, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday said suspects being investigated by the commission were not made to give statements under duress.

Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the EFCC, quoted Lamorde as saying this during a visit of officials of Amnesty International to the headquarters of the commission in Abuja on Monday.

“The EFCC follows the rule of law; our statements are recorded and are not taken under duress,” Lamorde said.

“Our rooms have cameras in them and the state-of-the-art recording facilities in the EFCC interrogation rooms will not allow any interrogator to humiliate a suspect.”

Lamorde was said to have expressed gratitude to the team for opening an office in Abuja and appealed to “western countries to end the impoverisation of developing countries.

“They must reject and return stolen funds so that respective governments of the affected developing countries could use the money to better the lives of their citizens,” Lamorde said.

Colm Cuanachain, senior director, office of the secretary-general, Amnesty International, was quoted as saying that nations committed to anti-corruption war had the tendency to experience “phenomenal growth”.

Cuanachain, while expressing the readiness of Amnesty International to partner with EFCC, noted that corruption had contributed to human rights violation in the north-east and the Niger Delta region.

He said death penalty, as punishment for looters of the treasury, was not the best option in the fight against corruption.