Editor's Review

Suspects will avoid jail if they enter into an agreement with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) where they own up to their illicit dealings and surrender the ill-acquired wealth.

Nominated Senator Farhiya Ali has drafted a Bill that will give amnesty to suspects of corruption in the country under the concept of deferred prosecution agreements.

Her bill was informed by the prolonged investigations and trial cases of corruption suspects and deals.

If passed, suspects will avoid jail if they enter into an agreement with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) where they own up to their illicit dealings and surrender the ill-acquired wealth.

File image of Nominated Senator Farhiya Ali. |Photo| Courtesy|

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The bill is called, The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

“The deferred prosecution agreements framework is in response to perceived deficiencies in the existing prosecution framework involving economic crimes, which include expensive and complicated investigations and trials for offences of economic crime,” the senator says in her bill.

According to the bill, graft suspects will be allowed a window to negotiate with the ODPP and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement before charges are brought against them.

The bill, however, proposes that the ODPP shall only consider such action if the public interest will be best served by entering into the agreement.

The ODPP shall then prepare a draft charge of the alleged crime, and a statement of facts relating to the crime. This will include admissions made by the suspect that enters into the agreement, and the rights and obligations of the parties to the agreement.

After a suspect owns up to committing the crime, s/he shall be required to surrender all assets acquired using the swindled funds, pay interests on the funds, compensate victims of the crime, and pay the ODPP a financial fine.

The fine issued by the ODPP will be compared to a penalty that would have been settled upon by the courts should the suspect have been tried and found guilty.

The deferred prosecution agreement will only be entered into following a nod by the High Court.

“The High Court judge must be convinced that the deferred prosecution agreement is in the interests of justice and that the terms of the agreement are fair, reasonable, and proportionate,” Senator Ali stated.