Over forty employees have been fired for financial malpractice and corruption in the past three years, according to Mr. Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

During a media interactive session on Monday in Abuja to commemorate his three-year stewardship at the commission's headquarters, Olukoyede revealed this.

The chairman added that there are presently five commission employees facing legal action for engaging in fraudulent activities.

“In the past two and a half to three years of my service, I have asked them to dismiss over 40 staff on account of corruption and financial malpractice. More than five of them are being prosecuted at the moment,” he said.

The EFCC chairman said some of the affected staff members are already being prosecuted, while case files involving others are being prepared for prosecution.

“You can follow those cases in court; they are public knowledge.

“If that is what people do in other agencies and I arrest them, I investigate them, I prosecute them, why must I just dismiss you if you do it within our own system and I’m not prosecuting you?” he asked.

According to Olukoyede, the disciplinary actions were a part of an attempt to guarantee that EFCC employees were held to the same accountability standards that the organization required of other Nigerians.

“You must be sure that your hands are clean. You can’t be fighting corruption when your hands are soiled with corrupt practices,” he said.

As part of its "internal cleansing" initiative, the EFCC chairman also declared that the commission's former Internal Affairs Department would now be called the Department of Ethics and Integrity.

In order to improve openness and avoid conflicts of interest, he said the commission had also implemented a gift policy.

He claims that the policy will force employees to report presents over a certain amount, including those from friends and family both domestically and overseas.

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