He said it is easier to convict a man who steals a goat in Nigeria than a bigwig who had stolen billions from government coffers. He also said corrupt public officers deserve about 15 to 50 years jail terms. He disclosed that his committee will propose to the National Judicial Council (NJC) the removal of any judge who issues a perpetual injunction against interrogation, investigation, arrest or prosecution of corruption suspects. Sagay, who bared his mind in an interview with the in-house magazine of EFCC, “Zero Tolerance,” said without plea bargain, the anti-corruption agencies will just be prosecuting cases endlessly. He said: “Oh definitely. There has to be plea bargain or otherwise your agency will just go on prosecuting endlessly. If you have a case in which the person who is being charged quickly says ‘look, I am guilty, what sort of mitigation can I enjoy? I am going to return the money’ you need to look at it. That way in six months the matter is over and you can go on to the next case. “But where you don’t have plea bargaining, you have to fight, bring all the evidence and prove the case beyond reasonable doubt before the court. This will cost time, money and energy. What you could achieve with plea bargaining in three to six months, you may spend three to five years at great expenses to the state. “ Plea bargain for me is inevitable provided there are very strict guidelines so that you don’t have a situation where somebody pays N3million and takes N20 billion away without a term of imprisonment. “There is a lot of validity in that opinion because, as we always say, there is a tendency for the man who steals a goat to be easily arrested and convicted and sent to prison for three years and the man who virtually steals billions gets his bail and never sees the walls of the prison. That is the major difficulty in the anti-corruption struggle.” On punishment for corrupt elements, Sagay however admitted that he was no longer keen on death sentence. He recommended jail terms between 15 and 50 years for corrupt public officers and others.]]>