PLEA BARGAINING: A COSMETIC APPROACH TO THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA By James Ode Abah Esq. The Concept of plea bargaining could be simply understood as a compromise or rather an agreement between the prosecutor and an accused person for the latter to plead guilty to a charge or information preferred against him in exchange for some concessions which must likely includes receiving a lesser sentence for the alleged offence. This process settles a criminal case without a normal trial. The Defendant typically pleads guilty to a lesser crime or fever charges than ordinarily charged, in exchange for a guaranteed sentence that is short than what the defendant would face if convicted at trial and more interesting less that the penalty prescribed by law. This concept which has being used in western jurisdictions like the United States and Britain seems to drastically reduce the protracted procedure in criminal trail and reduces the number of cases a judge might determine without a proper trial. There is no doubt whatsoever that plea bargaining has a strong applause for the preservation and conservation of resources; it is however in my view a concept that will sow seeds of corruption that may greatly inhibit and encourage commission of crimes that are statutory prohibited. The gradual adoption of this concept by the Nigerian Criminal Justice system spells doom for the fight against corruption in Nigeria especially as regards eliminating financial crimes and the wanton looting of public funds which is occasioned by our political elite and gradually becoming a constant practice. More worrisome is the fact section 180(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act, Section 13(2) of The EFCC Act and Section 76 of the criminal justice law of Lagos state 2007 clearly provides the legal basis for this practice. It must be borne to mind that an offense is a crime against a state, in which the state through the process of legislation has prescribed penalties for such crime by clearly defining what constitutes a crime and providing the penalty for such crime. One must not forget at this juncture that a crime is an act, default or conduct prejudicial to the State, the commission of which by law renders the person responsible, liable for punishment by fine or imprisonment or in extreme circumstances the grant of death sentence. It is my humble view that the process of the prosecutors in Nigeria agreeing to extend some advantage to an accused person by dropping charges or recommending lesser sentence will indeed facilitate corruption in a criminal trial. The shortcomings of the EFCC which is one of the main government establishment charged with function of prosecuting financial crimes in Nigeria reveals the dangers associated with the concept of plea bargaining. Cases of corrupt leaders agreeing to keeping part of their loot and offering a little to the State in exchange of the privileges associated with plea bargaining have raised eyebrows. A more dangerous approach is the fact that the concept is even initiated before the accused is charged to court in some cases and thereby limiting the role of the judge in exercising the final authority of sentencing decisions and therefore exempting judges from the so called plea bargaining negotiation which in my view is grossly frivolous as it has clearly led to corrupt individuals to get off easily without facing the full wrath of the law. It is not surprising therefore to see that the concept have clearly being welcomed by the Nigerian political elites. The reason for this is not farfetched. This controversial practice suits them and they will spend a lot of resources trying to convince members of the unsuspecting public. This article is an attack to this unwarranted concept of plea bargaining as it is a process that is bound to be manipulated, by our thieving elite who are bent of bleeding the public treasury without remorse. Plea bargain clearly encourages penchant thievery of public funds by Nigerian politicians as they can afford to loot a public funds in a reckless manner. More interestingly is the fact if the normal process of plea bargaining is adopted the worst that can happen is for such wanting politicians to refund part of the loot and eventually get a less or no sentence at all. This for them is so significant a benefit as the certainty of avoiding a maximum sentence is guaranteed. It is common knowledge that a significant number of Nigerian politicians are violent habitual offenders and a lenient sentence will see them return to the streets in a short amount of time and still amazingly hold public offices. Advocates of this dubious concept have argued erroneously that the practice of plea bargaining will benefit the Nigerian society as such agreements reached from the procedure of bargaining will lessen court congestion and free up prosecutors to handle more cases. This position in my view is grossly misconceived as setting up special courts for the hearing and determination of financial crimes and corruption cases will surely do more good rather than the cosmetic approach of fighting corruption through plea bargaining. Furthermore it must be stated emphatically the concept of plea bargain grossly runs contrary to the doctrine of presumption of innocence which is one of the most celebrated doctrines of criminal law jurisprudence. This doctrine is constitutionally guaranteed in section 35(5) of the 1999 constitution (as amended). This is so as an innocent defendant may be pressurized to plead guilty to a lesser charge in order to avoid the risk that he or she will be found guilty at trial. This is unconstitutional as it clearly takes away the right of trial of an accused person. More worrisome is the fact that the concept of plea bargaining has negatively led to poor police investigations as well as the investigations carried out by the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The customary practice unfortunately has deviated sound investigations to making deals with suspected parties. In a country like Nigeria where corruption is widely evident in every sector, it will amount to bewitched ritual for plea bargaining to be embraced in order limit financial crimes and abuse of public funds which is now a recognized religion in Nigeria. As it stands the fight against corruption has being given a descent burial. The problem with this country is that we choose to borrow and adopt every perceived positive policy from the western world without considering whether same will be the best possible approach in tackling our problems. If we are really serious on eliminating corruption we must eliminate any trend that tends to encourage it.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 19:47:04 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015