The grilling of suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, continued on Wednesday as the presidential pa
The grilling of suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, continued on Wednesday as the presidential panel investigating corruption allegations against him shifted its focus to properties he allegedly acquired in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, ThePunch is reporting.
The suspended EFCC boss has been in the police custody since his arrest on Monday. Magu was accosted by security agents in plain clothes in front of the old EFCC headquarters on Fomella Street, Wuse 2, Abuja, at noon on Monday and compelled to appear before the panel.
The Justice Ayo Salami-led panel was interested in establishing if indeed Magu bought properties abroad, particularly in Dubai, where he was said to have travelled to several times on official and private visits. It was further learnt that the panel also was preoccupied with allegations that N39bn had been diverted from the recovered loot.
Sources said the panel would carry out forensics on documents recovered from Magu’s house as well as an analysis of his earnings and bank records.
After being questioned for eight hours on Wednesday, Magu was taken back in police custody, where he spent Monday and Tuesday nights.
Also Magu was alleged to have sold off or mysteriously released about 157 oil tankers without following due process. The vehicles were alleged to have been seized by the Port Harcourt zonal office of the EFCC. The money was said not to have been remitted to the government’s coffers while those released were said to have been done after bribes were given to senior EFCC officials loyal to Magu.
A report by the Auditor-General of the Federation last year also noted that about N13.96bn reported as salaries and wages in the consolidated financial statement of the EFCC were not in the anti-graft agency’s trial balance submitted for reconciliation. Besides, the EFCC was listed as one of the agencies with “doubtful cash balance” of over N315m. These allegations are also being looked into.
A top government official said, “Magu is not just the chairman but the chief accounting officer of the EFCC. So, every allegation regarding diversion or misplaced funds must be directed at him. We are also working on some reports from the Office of the Auditor-General and the Federal Inland Revenue Service regarding some financial lapses in the EFCC. For some of the allegations, Magu was not able to explain while for some, he offered explanations. Whenever he gives explanations, we investigate and cross-check and based on the outcome of the investigation, more questions are asked.”
Besides Salami other members of the presidential panel investigating Magu are a Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Mike Ogbizi representing the Nigeria Police Force; Hassan Abdullahi representing the Department of State Services and Douglas Ekwueme who is an official of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit. Others include Mallam Shamsudeen representing the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar from the Federal Ministry of Justice and Mr. Kazeem Atilebi representing Civil Society Organisations.
The six geopolitical zones in the country are also represented on the panel.
