List of
suspects who will face trial over the $151million and N8billion found in
fictitious bank accounts is in the works, The Nation learnt yesterday.
On the long
list are bankers and civil servants, Attorney-General of the Federation Mr.
Abubakar Malami (SAN) said.
He declined to
name the suspects but stressed that the government is interested in knowing how
the funds were sourced and lodged in the accounts.
Malami, who
spoke with our correspondent from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said: “But
investigation is in top gear and I will not want to jeopardise it by giving out
names of those affected.”
Pressed for
more comments, Malami said: “I am not certain of the number now but it is huge
because it involved a syndicate.
“The culprits
include civil servants and bank officials who all connived to stash away these
recovered monies.”
He stressed
that “no businessman was implicated but the suspects, who are many, are mostly
civil servants and bank officials”.
Another
government source said the suspects would be named in court when charges are
preferred against them.
But there were
strong indications yesterday that a commercial bank had written the Federal
Government, owning up to the lodgment of $136,676,600.51 in a fictitious
account with it.
The bank has
promised to remit the slush funds into a dedicated account provided by the government.
The government
official, who pleaded not to be named because of “the sensitivity of the
matter”, said: “Before the government released the fact-sheet on the recovery
of $136,676,600.51, it got a letter of from a commercial bank owning up that
the cash was wired into a fictitious account in one of its branches.
“The bank also
made a commitment to remit the seized cash to a dedicated account which has
been provided by the Federal Government. We are expecting the refund from the
bank any moment from now.
“We have the
required evidence from the bank with the Office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation (OAGF).”
The government
source spoke on the investigation, saying “it is almost completed”.
He agreed that
Nigerians were eager to know the suspects, but insisted that “we will release
their names only after charges have been preferred against them in court”.
Also
yesterday, a Federal High Court sitting in Kano, presided over by Justice Zainab B. Abubakar, ordered the
forfeiture of the US$9,772,00 and £74,000 by a former Group Managing Director
of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu, to
the Federal Government.
The order was
sequel to an ex-parte application by the EFCC seeking an interim forfeiture of
the recovered money to the Federal Government.
A statement by
the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said the ex-parte
application was moved by Salihu Sani, counsel to the applicant.
The statement
said: “In her ruling, Justice Zainab held that the sum of $9,772,000 and
£74,000 which are now in the custody of
the applicant (EFCC) are in the interim forfeited to the Federal Government of
Nigeria.”
“On the 3rd
day of February, 2017, operatives of the Commission had stormed a building
belonging to the former NNPC boss and recovered a staggering sum of $9,772,000
and £74,000 stashed in a huge fire proof safe. On February 8, 2017, Yakubu
reported to the Commission’s Kano Zonal Office where he admitted being the
owner of both the house and the money recovered.
“Yakubu is
still in custody assisting the investigation.”
The Minister
of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Sunday said the “whistle-blower policy has
started yielding fruit as it has so far led to the recovery of US$151 million
and N8billion in looted funds”.
He said: “The
looted funds, which do not include the $9.772 million in cash allegedly owned
by a former Group Managing Director of the NNPC (which was also a dividend of
the whistle-blower policy), were recovered from just three sources through
whistle-blowers who gave actionable information to the office of the Minister
of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation.
“The biggest
amount of $136,676,600.51 was recovered from an account in a commercial bank,
where the money was kept under an apparently fake account name, followed by
N7billion and $15million from another person and N1billion from yet another.
"When we
told Nigerians that there was a primitive and mindless looting of the national
treasury under the last Administration, some people called us liars.
“Well, the
whistle-blower policy is barely two months old and Nigerians have started
feeling its impact, seeing how a few people squirreled away public funds.
“It is
doubtful if any economy in the world will not feel the impact of such
mind-boggling looting of the treasury as was experienced in Nigeria.
"Yet
whatever has been recovered so far, including the $9.8million by the EFCC, is
just a tip of the iceberg.”
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