Asset Recovery: Lawyers Urged to Stop Thinking as Lawyers, Jonathan Huth

Lawyers have been advised to stop thinking as Lawyers and think as businessmen or women, while handling briefs that have to do with asset recovery and return trajectory because of the high cost of litigation.

This advise was given by Mr Jonathan Huth while delivering a Keynote Address at a two-day workshop organised by the Attorney General Alliance (AGA AFRICA) in collaboration with the Christopher University, Mowe in Ogun State.

Speaking under the theme: “Unexplained Wealth in the Global South – Examining the Asset Recovery and Return Trajectory”, the former United State of America Civil Prosecutor stated that asset recovery experts must be involved in the process of recovering assets stolen from either government or corporations right from the start, and therefore, Lawyers in the matter must think as business people and not Lawyers, because only then will they feel what their clients are feeling.

He further stated that client/government with such problems must come to the Lawyer with business problems, expecting to have creative solutions. Therefore, Lawyers must have a good knowledge of the brief, what the law says about the matter, and have a clear idea of how to handle the matter.

Also speaking at the workshop, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Mr Ola Olukoyede, who was represented by the Head of the Abuja Zonal Office of the Commission, Mr Adebayo Adeniyi said that the topic for the workshop was well selected, given that unexplained wealth is a major problem in the anti-corruption war, which is in Section 7 of the EFCC Act.

He then called on the Federal Government to sign into law the Unexplained Wealth Order Act, as it would give more impetus to the current anti-corruption war.

The ICPC Chairman who was also represented by the Head of Lagos Operations, Hadiza Rimi, called for the proper handling and accounting of all proceeds of crime, especially those collected from corrupt public officers, as this will go a long way in creating public confidence and encourage more whistleblowers to come out.

Mr Babajide Oladipo Ogundipe, while speaking suggested that the Government should have a public-private agreement in the prosecution of corrupt individuals whose wealth cannot be accounted for, since most of these people have money to get the best Lawyers. He also suggested the non-conviction process as a way to recover Unexplained Wealth, which in most cases are proceeds of corruption.

Dr Anthony Idigbe, SAN, on his part, stated that Lawyers must defend their client, but at the same time, own themselves and the truth. He said that while defending their client, Lawyers should also report to the authority any crime about to be committed by their client, while seeking the best deals for the client.

Speaking earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of Christopher University, Prof Oyelana Olatunji Afolabi, said that the aim of the collaboration with AGA-Africa is to bring together people to chart new courses in the anti-corruption war, by exposing the antics of Unexplained Wealth.