Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN), Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, inaugurated a 14-member Asset Disposal Committee on Monday to manage assets forfeited to the Federal Government.
Speaking at the ceremony, which took place at the ICPC Headquarters in Abuja, Owasanoye stated that the Proceeds of Crime Act required the establishment of an Asset Disposal Committee in each agency to manage recovered assets in order to ensure transparency and accountability.
“To put sanity and clarity in the entire process, one of the things POCA mandated is the creation, in every agency, of a department to manage recovered assets. By law, all the agencies that recover must have a department to manage assets. For example, if a perishable item is recovered, the agency has the power to dispose of it immediately,” he said.
The anti-corruption agency’s head added that the committee’s formation was intended to ensure proper coordination of the disposition of recovered assets and to promote a standardised and transparent procedure that would protect the assets recovered by the Commission.
According to Owasanoye, “To push for some transparency, the Commission decided to invite some external stakeholders from the media, workers, and civil society. For the external people, the intention is that the same institution will substitute someone else every year, the whole idea is that people should not become institutional.”