Mr Anthony Agbonlahor, a legal practitioner in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has said that using professionals such as accountants and auditors to investigate high profile corruption cases facilitates speedy dispensation of justice.
Agbonlahor said that if investigators handling criminal matters did a thorough job before charging offenders to court, and with professionals involved, criminal cases would not linger in court for too long.
Agbonlahor, a member of Prosecution Team 17 in the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
The lawyer stressed the importance of proper training of prosecutors, especially in the area of investigation and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA, 2015).
He said that in order to ensure speedy dispensation of justice in corruption trials, prosecutors should avoid duplication of charges.
“A situation where a prosecutor duplicates charges without being able to substantiate them, can easily lead to the discharge of the defendant in a criminal matter.’’
According to him, avoiding multiple cases involving the same defendant on similar subject matter going on in different courts at the same time, will help speed up corruption trials.
“Multiple cases can stall criminal trials despite the fact that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA, 2015) makes provision for day-to-day trials of criminal cases.
“A defendant who is undergoing trial in other courts will always be unavailable for trial.’’
Agbonlahor advised that prosecutors handling criminal matters should never rely on irrelevant evidence they would not necessarily use as such evidences oftentimes caused unnecessary delays in corruption trials.
The lawyer equally urged prison authorities to always remind the court of existing orders to reproduce defendants in court in time in order to ensure speedy justice delivery.
He also said there should be proper funding for the Judiciary and prosecuting agencies as well as the deployment of more Judges to handle designated corruption cases.
“Additionally, training and re-training of staff of court handling criminal cases is another way to ensure that criminal matters do not linger so long in court,’’ Agbonlahor said. (NAN)
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