BEVERLY HILLS, February 9, (THEWILL) – The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has confirmed the recovery of $9.75m and £750,000 from a residence in Kaduna state and another N1.25bn from a public servant, all within two weeks.
The agency’s Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, stated this in a report he presented to the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes during the 2016 budget performance appraisal and defence of 2017 budget before the committee.
Though Magu did not name the suspects linked to the recoveries, EFCC sources said the millions of dollars were recovered from the home of a former Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Andrew Yakubu. The stash of cash was found in his safe.
The source said the seizure is the largest cash haul the commission has recovered from one person. Yakubu has been standing trial for money laundering.
Magu said the commission recovered N102.91bn, $8.30m, £29,155, 12,475, 117,004 Canadian dollars, 806.50 Dirham, 5,000 Francs and 2,000 Rupees as proceeds of crime between January and December, 2016.
“Out of the 37 accounts frozen/forfeited, six banks are yet to provide relevant information on the amount accrued into the suspected accounts within the period under review,” he said.
The document revealed that the commission secured 135 convictions, out of which 46 were from Lagos zone, 30 from Abuja zone, 22 from Port Harcourt zone, 19 from Kano zone, 15 from Enugu zone and three from Gombe zone during the period.
Magu acknowledged the support of the committee towards fast-tracking completing of the EFCC headquarters in Abuja revealing that the Federal Ministry of Finance had listed the payment of N1.8bn out of N2.9bn meant for completion of the headquarters.
He, however, added that the commission had resuscitated its offices in Kaduna, Ibadan, Benin and Maiduguri as part of efforts to boost its operations across the country as he urged the legislature to support the fight against graft, saying “corruption is fighting back”.
Giving breakdown of the 2016 appropriated allocation to the commission, Magu told the committee that total budgetary approval was N18.89bn, but that N14.74bn representing 78.04 per cent was released.
He explained that N7.62bn was for personnel cost, overhead was N2.75bn while capital expenditure was N8.49bn for the year adding that 91.1 per cent component of the released funds had so far been utilised.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Kayode Oladele, commended the EFCC for the successes recorded so far and said: “for the first time in Nigeria’s history, anti-corruption searchlights have been beamed on the judiciary and the revelations have been mind-blogging.
“In addition, similar exercises in the arms procurement process by the Nigerian military have also led to several arrests.
“Overall, the EFCC made the highest number of recoveries of stolen resources, running into billions of naira in a single year in the annals of Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts.”
The chairman solicited the support of Nigerians in stemming the scourge of corruption in various facets of the economy as he also pledged the support of the house to the EFCC and assured of life assurance for the commission’s operatives.
He also revealed that Nigeria had applied to join the league of members of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international anti-corruption agency as part of efforts to strengthen ongoing anti-corruption crusade in the country.
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