Date Published: 05/04/09

EFCC accuses Vaswani brothers of campaign of calumny

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC has raised an alarm over clandestine plans by the recently deported Indian born Vaswani brothers to launch an intensive campaign of calumny against the federal government and some agencies of government especially the EFCC.

The Commission in a statement issued on Sunday said it has become imperative to alert the public of the plot by the Vaswani brothers to deploy huge resources to fund a campaign of calumny against the EFCC in view of the fact that they have perfected arrangements to use fellow Nigerians to do their hatchet job.

According to the statement,” rather than pay the N6.5billion they have defrauded the federal government of Nigeria, the Vaswani brothers in their characteristic style have chosen to deploy this fund to wage a disguised war against the government and people of Nigeria by sponsoring a well orchestrated campaign against the EFCC and the leadership of the anti-graft agency.

“In the next few days Nigerians should not be surprised to see various sponsored libelous publications and materials being circulated through the mass media to discredit and disparage the EFCC and its Chairman. The only reason for this is that the nation’s anti-graft agency has dared to touch the rich and powerful Vaswani brothers by asking them to pay legitimate revenues totaling N6.5billion belonging to the federal government of Nigeria, a demand they have rebuffed with disdain and impunity in a manner that portray them as if they are above the laws of Nigeria.  “

The statement further said that the Commission is not unaware of attempts to make use of the media aides of a highly placed Nigerian to execute the media campaign against the EFCC and its leadership.

It added however that no amount of sponsored campaign will discourage the Commission from discharging its statutory responsibility while a greedy set of businessmen destroy the economy of Nigeria.

“The EFCC has acted in the best interest of Nigeria by requesting that the Vaswani brothers pay the revenue they have denied the country and equally taking steps that funds in their accounts are not taken out of the country with a view to recovering the N6.5billion they have refused to pay.

“The Commission will equally not be deterred from getting to the root of on-going investigation of allegations of tax evasion by the Vaswani brothers and their companies. It should be noted that if the essence of the campaign of calumny against the EFCC and its Chairman is to blackmail the Commission and stop it from forging ahead with the investigation and prosecution of individuals and companies involved in this economic crime, it has failed from the start”, the statement added.