Tag: EFCC

  • N15bn recovered loot: EFCC reveals owner of Ikoyi apartment

    N15bn recovered loot: EFCC reveals owner of Ikoyi apartment

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has revealed the identity of the owner of the apartment where $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23, 218,000 was discovered in Ikoyi, Lagos State.

    The commission has named Mrs. Folashade Oke, the wife of the suspended Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ayo Oke as the owner of Flat 7B, No. 13, Osborne Road, Osborne Towers.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the NIA had laid claim to the money.

    The EFCC, revealed that Mrs. Oke made a cash payment of $1.658m for the purchase of the flat between August 25 and September 3, 2015.

    The agency further said she purchased the property in the name of a company, Chobe Ventures Limited, to which she and her son, Master Ayodele Oke Junior, were directors.

    Payment for the purchase of the flat was said to have been made to one Fine and Country Limited.

    The EFCC stated that Mrs. Oke made the cash payment in tranches of $700,000, $650,000 and $353,700 to a Bureau de Change company, Sulah Petroleum and Gas Limited, which later converted the sums into N360,000,000 and subsequently paid it to Fine and Country Limited for the purchase of the property.

    The EFCC on Friday tendered the receipt issued by Fine and Country Limited to Chobe Ventures Limited as an exhibit before the Federal High Court in Lagos, where it is seeking an order of final forfeiture of the recovered money to the FG.

    In an affidavit filed before the court, a Detective Inspector with the EFCC, Mohammed Chiroma, stated that “Chobe Ventures Limited is not into any business but was merely incorporated to retain proceeds of suspected unlawful activities of Mrs. Folashade Oke.”

    While urging the presiding judge, Justice Muslim Hassan, to order the permanent forfeiture of the funds to the FG, Oyedepo argued that the fact that Flat 7B, Osborne Towers was purchased in a criminal manner, made the N13bn recovered therein “extremely suspicious to be proceeds of unlawful acts.”

     

     

  • N15bn Ikoyi funds: Only thing EFCC found in my apartment is my wife’s clothes – Obi

    N15bn Ikoyi funds: Only thing EFCC found in my apartment is my wife’s clothes – Obi

    Former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi on Monday shared his view on the $50 million recovered from a flat in Ikoyi, Lagos in April, stressing that the only thing searchers found in his apartment was his wife’s clothes.

    Recall that Obi was named among the occupants who live in one of the apartments in the building where the cash was recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    He who said that he rented the flat for his family stressed that the EFCC searched his home but found nothing incriminating.

    The former governor made the statement while speaking at “The Platform,” an event organized by the Covenant Christian Centre.

    When asked about the stolen funds uncovered in Lagos apartment, the former governor answered “YeI live in the apartment, I was there, and I saw them when they came to search the building. It is worrisome that we are still dealing with who knows the money.

    “But my own bigger worry is, let us even assume that the money is even questionable, but why should anyone place such money in such place. Anything could have happened; the place could have caught fire.

    “If that money was kept in our banking system, whoever kept it would have earned about 8% per annum, so he or she would have earned about $7m dollars, which is about N2.8bn is the amount spent on the entire secondary School education in Anambra and If they had decided to share it among graduates N1m, the money would have been shared to about 2800 graduates”

    “Even the bank keeping the money would would have made 7% interest on the money.

    “When they told me they wanted to search my apartment, I was abroad but I forwarded my key to them through a very good Nigerian coming home to enable them do their job”

    “And they searched the whole apartment, and I can tell you the only results they found was my wife clothes.

    “I have said it to Nigerians, I have only two pair of black shoes and I travel with them; the purpose of shoe is to protect the leg from being hurt, nothing else. I bought the one I’m wearing from Mark and Spencer $49.99”

    “The even said they couldn’t find wrist watches, yes! I have said it to everybody, this is the only wrist watch I have [Showing is watch to the audience], the purpose of watch is to keep time if I keep one at home whose time does it keep”

    The former governor, urged Nigerians to find out about him before he became governor stressing that he was rich before he joined the public service.

    “Go and check my background , I was very rich before I joined the public service, however, I problem with money wrongly spent”

  • Obasanjo begged me to treat Fayose softly, says Ribadu

    Obasanjo begged me to treat Fayose softly, says Ribadu

    Former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has revealed that contrary to claims by Gov. Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, former president, Olusegun Obasanjo begged him to go softly on the governor in the period when the commission laid siege on him.

    Ribadu made the disclosure yesterday in Lagos when former associates of the former President converged to celebrate him on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

    Thenewsguru.com gathered that the associates who converged as “Learners of the Olusegun Obasanjo School of Nigerian Politics” included former office holders in the Obasanjo administration and some of the country’s leading names in the economy and Nollywood.

    The former anti-graft czar also swore that Obasanjo was not privy to the arrest of Globalcom chairman, Chief Mike Adenuga.

    Speaking at the occasion, Obasanjo said Ribadu probed him shortly after he was appointed.

    He said the EFCC unearthed a foreign account long used by his late wife, Stella Obasanjo.

    Obasanjo said the account which was opened by the late Stella in her maiden name before they got married was the nearest to what the former EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu could find against him.

    Obasanjo also disclosed how he gave former Police boss Tafa Balogun a 30-minute ultimatum to resign or be dismissed.

    Among those present were Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olangusoye Oyinola, former governor of Osun State, Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, Dr. (Mrs.) Dere Awosika, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, Mallam Ahmed Yayale, Mallam Uba Sani, Dr. Doyin Okupe. Also present were Mr. Tonye Cole, Mr. Aigboje Aik-Imoukhuede, AIG Ogunsakin, Senator Kola Bajumo, Mallam Yayale Ahmed among others.

  • Probe: We’ll handover Lawal, Oke to EFCC if found guilty – Presidency

    Probe: We’ll handover Lawal, Oke to EFCC if found guilty – Presidency

    The Presidency has said the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir David Lawal and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ayo Oke, will be investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, if the three-man panel set up by President Muhammadu Buhari concludes its work and finds them culpable.

    Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, made the disclosure while featuring on a monitored programme on television.

    Adesina noted that both government officials would be handed over to the EFCC if there was need for it.

    He maintained that it was right for Buhari to set up an investigative panel to look into the allegations against the SGF and the claims by the NIA DG.

    Adesina said, “If it (investigation by the EFCC) gets to that point it will be done but it seems not to have got to that point now.

    After the panel concludes its work and there is anything for the EFCC to look at, I am sure it will be done.

    The government believes that setting up an investigation at this time is right and government has the mandate of the people. It will not satisfy everybody but it does not matter.

    You will never win with some Nigerians, they will always find faults but then, government has been elected and government is in place to do certain things and government would do what it believes to be right at any given time.”

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls President Buhari recently suspended Lawal over the alleged award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on North East, while Oke was suspended for saying that NIA owned the foreign cash the EFCC recovered in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    The President set up a three-man committee comprising the Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN); the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, and headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, to investigate the allegations against both government officials.

  • EFCC planning to raid houses of former PDP governors – Jonah Jang

    Former Plateau State Governor, Jonah David Jang, on Thursday raised an alarm that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is planning to raid houses of all former governors who served on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

    Jang also said officials of the anti-graft agency were particularly warming up to invade his house in a bid to discover looted funds.

    Jang revealed this when he spoke during a Town Hall meeting with his constituents in Jos.

    The Senator however, warned that anybody who breaks into his house would repair any damaged part of it.

    Jang said, “Somebody came to my house and told me that there is plan to raid the houses of all former PDP Governors. My house is very open for them to come and search, but I want to say this to the hearing of the public, if anybody breaks my house, they will hear us up to supreme court.

    “You cannot break into my house and go free, you must come and repair it, if they think I hide money in the ceiling or anywhere, they should have equipment that can trace the money, but if they come to start breaking walls, they will repair my house because they will not find a kobo, I didn’t steal money.”

    The Senator however, warned that anybody who breaks into his house would repair any damaged part of it.

    Jang said, “Somebody came to my house and told me that there is plan to raid the houses of all former PDP Governors. My house is very open for them to come and search, but I want to say this to the hearing of the public, if anybody breaks my house, they will hear us up to supreme court.

    “You cannot break into my house and go free, you must come and repair it, if they think I hide money in the ceiling or anywhere, they should have equipment that can trace the money, but if they come to start breaking walls, they will repair my house because they will not find a kobo, I didn’t steal money.”

  • EFCC propaganda may trigger tension in Nigeria – Uranta

    The Nigerian National Summit Group (NNSG) has decried the growing pattern of self-serving myopic propaganda tactics being deployed by government officials and bodies, whilst warning that it could trigger massive violent social unrest nationwide.
    In a Public Statement released in Lagos on Sunday by NNSG Executive Secretary, Mr. Tony I. Uranta, the Summit Group reaffirmed support for President Buhari’s Anti-Corruption War, but insists that the war must be non-selective and follow the Rule of Law, citing the recent losses by the FGN in four major court cases as proof that Trial by Media cannot substitute for thorough investigations and properly prosecuted cases.
    “Trial by media”, asserted Mr. Uranta, “including the recent propaganda deployments by the EFCC, have not only been too loosely woven around unverified facts, but have even calculatedly encouraged libelous falsehoods, whilst inflaming public passion.”
    The group said, “The rush, by the EFCC, for example, to mass communicate the putative discoveries of humongous amounts of allegedly looted monies, without first ascertaining their ownership, smacks of professional impropriety, especially considering how many now obviously innocent individuals have had their names and integrity at least passively impugned via nigh-libelous association with said sums, by the anti-corruption agency”.
    “Without attempting to hold brief for, say, Ms. Mo Abudu, Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, or Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, one can guess that unless the EFCC speedily offers them very public apologies”, Uranta continues, “the stigma created by the media outcry, that wrongly linked them to the apartment in which the funds were discovered, may never be lived down by them. And, now that we learn that the NIA had immediately claimed ownership of the apartment and funds, one wonders in whose interest it was to ignore this and still allow for the growth of malicious public and media speculation. Even now, the uncalled-for publicity as to who the real owners of the apartments in the complex are, is distasteful and dangerous!”
    The Summit Group cautions that government agencies and the media be careful, in future, before carelessly broadcasting sensational information, so as not to become the cause of a violent national social upheaval by misled Nigerians who are already on edge and frustrated with the status quo during this recession.
    The NNSG further calls on members of the Nigerian public and all law enforcement agents to also be on the alert for criminals that may attempt to impersonate the security agencies so as to gain forced, or coerced, illegal entry into innocent individuals’ homes, offices, and other premises.
    Finally, NNSG gives notice that it will deploy the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to demand the EFCC immediately obeys Mr. President’s instruction, given a couple of weeks ago, that the anti-graft body tread the natural path of transparency and accountability, by urgently producing an Interim Audit Report of all monies recovered by the agency, to date, beginning from the tenure of the former EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde.
  • EFCC traces N2bn to Niger’s former commissioner

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has traced additional N2 billion to the United Bank for Africa account of a former Commissioner of Local Government in Niger State, Mr. Kantigi Liman,

    The suspect, Liman, may be declared wanted by the anti-graft agency.

    “The discovery brings to N6 billion, the funds traced to accounts held by the politician and companies linked to him.” The Punch reports.

    The Commission had weeks earlier traced N4 billion to two accounts in GTBank, both linked to Liman.

    The first account belongs to Sadiq Air Travel Agency Limited and the second to Kantigi.

    Sources at the Commission, however, disclosed that the politician who was a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2015 election has been elusive.

    “He is on the run and all efforts to track him down have been futile.

    “The next option left for the Commission is to declare him wanted,” the source said.

    The source further disclosed that investigations so far points in the direction that the funds were siphoned from the local government joint account of Niger State.

    EFCC desperately wants to confront him with the available evidence.

    He is believed to rake in a monthly interest of over N33 million on the fixed deposits.

  • EFCC submits report on recovered N15bn to Buhari

    A report by Daily Trust indicates that the EFCC has submitted a report to the presidency on the N15billion it recovered in a flat in Ikoyi, Lagos on Wednesday, April 12.

    According to the report, the anti-graft agency’s report to the presidency gave details of the discoveries made during the operation and the origin of the money. The fund recovered by operatives of the EFCC was made up of $43.4 million, £27,000 and N23million totalling N15 billion.

    The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had lay claim to the money, which it said was approved for covert operations by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, before the 2015 general elections.

    Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike also claimed that the money belongs to the state, and gave the federal government seven days ultimatum to return the money to River state coffers, TheNewsGuru.com reported recently.

  • N15bn Lagos loot: Stop speculating, tell Nigerians the truth – Saraki dares EFCC

    N15bn Lagos loot: Stop speculating, tell Nigerians the truth – Saraki dares EFCC

    Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has dared the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to reveal the identity of the owner of the N13bn recovered from an apartment in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos to Nigerians as they deserve to know the truth and nothing other than that.

    The Senate President said this on Tuesday while speaking on a monitored programme on Arise News Network.

    Saraki noted that the whole confusion surrounding the recovered money, was not good for Nigeria’s image and warned that the National Assembly might need to step in.

    I believe this is something simple that the organisation (EFCC) should manage, even before the speculation started coming out. The circus has to come to end as to whether it belongs to individuals, companies, agencies or a state government.

    We, however, believe they will sort it out and eventually tell Nigerians who owns the money. Nigerians deserve to know. The circus must stop,” he said.

    When asked if the EFCC made an error by not monitoring the Osborne Towers, Saraki said: “I would rather not comment and prejudge them because they might come before us.

    But clearly, Nigerians must know, to save us this embarrassment. I believe they should come out and tell us who owns the money. I believe an agency like this should monitor and clear this mess.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the EFCC had last week discovered specifically the sum of $38m, N23m and £27,000 from the apartment. However, the anti-graft agency is yet to reveal the identity of the owner(s) of the loot.

  • Seized $43million: EFCC invites former Governor, others for interrogation

    Seized $43million: EFCC invites former Governor, others for interrogation

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has invited a former Governor and some others for questioning over the $43million discovered in one of the apartments in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    TheNewsGuru.com gathers that the anti-graft agency has identified how apartment 7B where the money was found, was acquired.

    The EFCC has also begun investigation into the roles played by some apartment owners and tenants as it concerned movement of the cash into the Towers.

    A source within the anti-graft agency who spoke on condition of anonymity with The Nation said: “The more we investigate this $43.4m haul, the more we get fresh facts. It has become imperative to interact with some owners or tenants of apartments in the Towers.

    We have invited a former governor and other high-profile owners and tenants for interaction. It is just to ask a few questions on whether or not they were aware of such movement of cash.

    We have clues linking some occupants of the Towers to the cash haul. And in line with sections 16 and 17 of the EFCC (Establishment Act) 2004, we are inviting these landlords or tenants.

    Unless we get to the root of this case, Nigerians may not know the truth or otherwise about the cash.

    We are not saying that those invited are guilty of any infraction or having link with the $43.4million but we need to hear from them – in line with the ongoing profiling of those in the Towers.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the EFCC had last week discovered specifically the sum of $38m, N23m and £27,000 from the apartment.