…Shuns Senate Probe, Sent Reps<\/p>\n
Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC), were on
\nWednesday sent out of the public hearing session of the Senate Committee
\non Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition on N1trillion scam leveled
\nagainst their Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde.<\/p>\n
This was even as the image of the agency they represented, was badly
\ndamaged by the petitioner with his submissions before the committee, one
\nof which was the allegation that Lamorde gave some of the choice
\nproperties seized from former Bayelsa State Governor, DSP Alamieyesigha
\nand others, to Usman Lamorde, his younger brother.<\/p>\n
The EFCC officials led by Chile Okoroma , the head of Legal Services
\nwalked themselves into trouble at the hearing by seeking for permission to
\nmake contribution despite earlier request made by the commission for
\nextension of date of appearance before the committee.<\/p>\n
After hearing the submissions of the petitioner against the EFCC boss,
\nOkoroma sought for permission to make some comments upon which his
\nidentity and that of his other colleagues were demanded for by the
\nChairman of the Committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu ( PDP Imo East).<\/p>\n
Their disclosure of being officials of the EFCC did not go down well with
\nthe chairman and other members of the committee , based on the fact that
\nas a body , EFCC had earlier forwarded an official letter to the committee
\nTuesday morning for extension of date of appearance of its Chairman,
\nLamorde before the committee in respect of the petition.<\/p>\n
But Okoroma went ahead to make his comment without permission by
\ndescribing the method being adopted by the committee to conduct the public
\nhearing as unjust and contrary to the law, saying \u201d it is very wrong for a
\npetitioner to be heard publicly in the absence of the person the petition
\nis against\u201d.
\nAn outburst that made a member of the committee, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim (
\nAPC Kwara South) to request for walking out of the EFCC officials from the
\nsession, since they were not even expected to be in attendance , let
\nalone, administered oath, for the purposes of commenting at the session.<\/p>\n
He said: Mr Chairman, in line with our tradition and relevant rules
\ngoverning this type of session, since Okoroma and the other EFCC officials
\nhere , are not known to have been here in the first place, but decided to
\nbe here and even went ahead to start commenting without being administered
\noath for that purpose, I move that the Chairman walk them out of the
\nsession\u201d<\/p>\n
A motion the committee chairman spontaneously acted upon by asking the the
\nthree EFCC officials and other lawyers who accompanied them to immediately
\nleave the venue of the hearing session.
\nBut Okoroma even after been walked out of the session , still insisted
\nthat the method being adopted by the committee in hearing the petitioner,
\nwas illegal and unjustifiable.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThis committee is a committee of the Senate, known as one of the
\nlawmaking institutions in the country but what we are seeing today, is law
\nbreaking because it is wrong for a petitioner to be heard in the public in
\nthe absence of the person, the entire petition is against\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, at the hearing session, the petitioner, George Uboh made series
\nof submissions backed with facts and figures , indicating that the anti
\ngraft body, must have defrauded the country to the tune of N2.051trillion
\nfrom seized properties and funds of individuals under investigation by the
\ncommission.<\/p>\n
According to him, on Naira recoveries alone, \u2018In a December 02, 2011
\nletter EFCC sent to the Chairman, House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and
\nFinancial Crimes, EFCC stated that the aggregate recoveries from 2004 to
\n2011 (8 financial years) was N1,326,754,554,482:80. EFCC did not mention
\nwhere the N1.3 Trillion recovered was remitted to. EFCC\u2019s claim that it
\ndid not recover up to a Trillion is complete false.<\/p>\n
He gave the breakdown as follows \u2013<\/p>\n
2004\u2014N7,070,693,130:00
\n2005\u2014N965,651,737,039:00
\n2006\u2014N6,622,261,783:79
\n2007\u2014N7,700,150,381:20
\n2008\u2014N18,141,628,546:98
\n2009\u2014N130,885,187,726:83
\n2010\u2014N52,877,464,867:00
\n2011\u2014N137,805,431,008:08<\/p>\n
He disclosed further that \u201cIn EFCC\u2019s \u201cSUMMARY OF EFCC MONETARY RECOVERIES
\n2003-MARCH, 2013\u201d (11 financial years), EFCC stated that the aggregate
\nrecoveries for eleven financial years is N497,385,427,485:63; EFCC did not
\nmention where the N497.3 Billion recovered was remitted to, going by the
\nfollowing breakdown-<\/p>\n
2003\u2014N974,783,213:06
\n2004\u2014N21,018,557,263:28
\n2005\u2014N71,053,996,008:60
\n2006\u2014N8,199,908,189:03
\n2007\u2014N41,479,032,319:70
\n2008\u2014N44,542,822,622:30
\n2009\u2014N255,306,693,033:55
\n2010\u2014N10,559,513,355:91
\n2011\u2014N11,117,460,717:88
\n2012\u2014N27,844,769,688:19
\n2013\u2014N5,287,891,074:13<\/p>\n
Uboh who stated that the documents submitted were prepared under the
\nchairmanship of Lamorde , went further to disclose that total recoveries
\nto be remitted as confirmed by EFCC are 1.995 Trillion + 48.9 Billion +
\n7.3 Billion + .4 Billion =N 2.051 Trillion, asking \u201cAFTER RECOVERING OVER
\n2 TRILLION HOW DID THE FUNDS MELT AWAY?<\/p>\n
He went further by alleging that in defrauding the Nation of seized funds
\nfrom corrupt Nigerians under investigation, EFCC under Lamorde also
\nindulges in doctoring of Bank Accounts and diversion of already seized
\nloots.<\/p>\n
He said: Two access bank recovery account statements tendered herein show
\nOpening balances of -0- as of 1, July 2004, but no transaction occurred
\nuntil June\/July 2008 respectively. These transactions are expunged Where
\nare the funds deposited between July 2004 and June\/July, 2008?<\/p>\n
\u201cEFCC diverted and concealed N779 Million Naira of recoveries from Tafa
\nBalogun in its record (aggregate should be 3,037,255,521.60 \u2013 not
\n2,258,100,516.98); Instead of transferring 3.3 billion from Spring bank to
\nits Access bank recovery account, EFCC transferred only 2.2 billion and
\nconcealed it by understating the summation of the balances in the various
\naccounts hence the access bank statement had 2.2 Billion Naira after the
\nconcealment\u201d<\/p>\n
He consequently concluded by urging the committee to urge the Federal
\nGovernment to compel EFCC to remit 2.051 Trillion to the Federal
\nGovernment of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cAccess bank should be compelled to bring complete and
\nunadulterated statements from 2004 till date.<\/p>\n
\u201cAminu Ibrahim and co, Auditors, should be compelled to come and shed
\nlight on discrepancies in its records and that of the already traced EFCC
\naccounts.<\/p>\n
After his submissions, the Committee Chairman, Sam Anyanwu, said the
\nallegations are very weighty and the committee will look into them very
\nseriously but added that , they are on a facts -finding mission and not
\nout to run down anybody or agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
…Shuns Senate Probe, Sent Reps Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC), were on Wednesday sent out of the public hearing session of the Senate Committee on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n