Let us now examine the provisions of Section 14(2) of that Act which reads thus:- “Subject to the provisions of Section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (which relates to the power of the Attorney General of the Federation to institute, continue, take over or discontinue criminal proceedings against any person in any Court of law) the Commission may compound any offence punishable under this Act by accepting such sum of money as it thinks fit, exceeding the maximum amount to which that person would have been liable if he had been convicted of that offence.” From the wordings of the above quoted provisions, there are three conditions which must be met or satisfied before an offence can be compounded; namely (a) The offence to be compounded must be one that is punishable under the EFCC Act (b) the sum of money that EFCC can accept must exceed the maximum amount to which person would have been liable to pay if he had been convicted. (c) the EFCC can accept money in compounding the offence. In addition, there must be a written agreement between the appellant and the Respondent on the issue of compounding of the crime for which the appellant was charged and also the amount to be accepted by the respondent must be explicitly stated in the written agreement for compounding the offence no more no less.
Romrig Nigeria Limited V. FRN (SC.254/2014, 15 Dec 2017)