The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found $43.4 million
(about N13.237 billion), N23 million and £27,000 cash at House 16, Osborne
Road in Ikoyi, Lagos Island.
The anti-graft agency suspected that the cash might have been proceeds of
crime kept at the residence to prevent any bank alert.
But the identity of the owner of the cash was kept under wraps pending the
conclusion of investigations.
It was, however, suspected that the cash might have been laundered by
politically-exposed persons and former political office holders through
fronts.
A reliable source, who spoke in confidence, said: “We acted on
intelligence report that huge cash in an apartment in Osborne Towers,
Ikoyi, Lagos.
“A whistle blower who had insider knowledge of how the funds were kept in
some locked up rooms in the house alerted the EFCC.
“As at the last count, we have recovered about $43.4 million (N13.237
billion at N305 per dollar) N23 million and £27,000. The figures could be
higher than what we have counted.
“But we engaged the Central Bank of Nigeria to mobilise counting machines
to assist in determining the total haul. Certainly, we are acting on some
clues on how the money came about. We have a lot of intelligence we are
analyzing.”
A source within the EFCC said: “This is a major breakthrough for this
commission. We will not relent in recovering slush funds.
“The whistle blowing policy has added value to the anti- graft war. Some
of those who looted public funds have been avoiding banks. They kept the
cash at home and we are on their trail. Imagine what over N11 billion can
do in the life of this nation, while the amount traced to private accounts
sums up to N4 billion.
About N16 billion has been uncovered by the EFCC in the last few days in
Lagos, including the N12,360,814,000 recovered and about N4 billion traced
to private accounts.
The Federal Government had on December 22 last year, launched a whistle
blowing policy to expose fraud and other related crimes in the public and
the private sectors.