Date Published: 09/07/11

We didn't recover $13.5 Million from Mrs Jonathan says EFCC

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri on Wednesday said the commission did not recover $13.5million slush funds from the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

Waziri also said she has not used the commission in the last three years to witch-hunt any group or individual.          

The EFCC boss, who made the clarifications while addressing members of the Women Empowering and Enriching Lives (WEEL) in Abuja, said the First Lady is not being investigated by the EFCC.

 She said: "This even provides me an opportunity to respond to several enquiries I have been getting on an alleged pending case against Mrs. Patience Jonathan. Let me state clearly that the commission will not allow itself to be used to drag innocent peoples’ names into crimes, cases or allegations they know nothing about.

"In this particular case, I have read my predecessor saying in media interviews  in September 2010 that Mrs. Jonathan was not in any way involved in any case of money laundering investigated by the EFCC under him.

" I have thereafter checked our records and cannot find any case of money laundering against Mrs. Jonathan or the President himself. So, each time I get  enquiries or read about this issue, I often wondered where they came from from.

“If the person said to have investigated her for money laundering had as far back as September 2010 disclaimed this, I wonder why people still referred to it.

“As I said, the commission does not have in any account or records where $13.5 million was recovered from Mrs. Jonathan in 2006. I don’t have the details of the account where it was put and it was not documented.

“If there was a case against the First Lady, it should have been documented. There is no such record with the commission. But in the case of the controversial $15million bribe offered the former Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu by ex-Governor James Ibori, I met the records and the money is still with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
 “We should learn to separate the truth from blackmail. Our society can only thrive on justice and fair play if we uphold the right values and shun the politics of pulling innocent people down," she added.

  The EFCC chairman said she has ensured that the commission operated within the law in the last three years.

 She added:" I am equally glad to note that women in authority are reputable for maintaining high standards and playing by the rules.

  "This is why in the EFCC today, only the mischievous will say the EFCC under my leadership witch-hunts, or drags peoples’ names in the mud or violates rule of law in our operations.

  "I am proud to say that in the last three years, we have done much more and achieved great feats without operating outside the ambit of the law.  

"For us in EFCC, we will continue to promote the right values, focus on our mandate and abstain from tendencies that will not help the course of a better society, “Waziri said.

The Nation