The federal government yesterday approved a new bill, Proceeds of Crime Recovery and Management Agency Bill, for onward transmission to the National Assembly.
Briefing reporters after the virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the State House, Abuja, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Malam Abubakar Malami (SAN), said the bill, which was first conceived in 2007, was rejected several times by FEC of successive administrations, including the current cabinet before it was eventually approved yesterday.
Also, responding to a question on his decision to unilaterally amend the code of legal professional practice, Malami said the matter is currently under scrutiny and declined comment on the matter.
He said the objective of the bill is to secure a legal and institutional framework that will assist in harnessing proceeds of crimes that are currently scattered across several government agencies and bring them into one agency.
According to Malami, the pursuit of a legal framework for recovered assets have become a necessity because there is hitherto no agency of government saddled with the responsibility of providing data on landed assets, immobile assets as well as the value of cash recovered by government agencies.
He said: “It is in essence, a bill that is targeted and intended to have in place a legal and institutional framework.
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