EFCC Decides Buhari’s Minister’s Fate over ₦37.1bn Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday grilled a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, for over 12 hours between 11 am and 11.30 pm.

The former minister who was grilled in the presence of her lawyer, Oladipo Okpeseyi, at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, was asked to write a statement explaining her relationship with a contractor, James Okwete, over the disbursements of the sum of ₦37,170,855,753.44 paid into his bank accounts through agencies domiciled in the ministry.

Our correspondent gathered that during the interrogation which was done in the Operations Room, EFCC Headquarters, Plots 301/302, Institutions and Research District, Jabi, Abuja, the former minister was shown documents revealing how the monies were moved into several bank accounts belonging to or connected with Okwete.

“Sadiya was grilled by interrogators since 11 am, and she was released on bail around 11.30 pm tonight (Monday), we aren’t detaining her just as we didn’t detain Halima Shehu, because the investigation is still ongoing.

“However, Sadiya has been mandated to report to the commission every day from tomorrow (Tuesday). She was asked to write a statement explaining her relationship with the contractor, Okwete, and how those monies got into his account,” an EFCC source revealed.

The source added, “She was given access to documents showing how the monies were moved from the ministry’s coffers and deposited into the bank accounts of Mr Okwete.”

Meanwhile, when contacted by our correspondent on Monday, Okwete’s lawyer, Chukwuemeka Eze, confirmed that his client had been released by the EFCC.

Eze noted that Okwete was released on administrative bail last Thursday and had been asked to report to the commission daily.

“My client, Okwete has been released by the EFCC on bail. He was released last week Thursday, and has been asked to report to the commission daily,” Eze said.

Meanwhile, our correspondent confirmed that Umar-Farouk arrived at the EFCC Headquarters at about 10:00 am on Monday

At about 10:20 am, the former Minister tweeted about her presence at the EFCC Headquarters, saying, “I have, at my behest, arrived at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to honour the invitation by the anti-graft agency to offer clarifications in respect of some issues that the commission is investigating.”

Documents obtained by The PUNCH revealed that following receipt of the funds, Okwete transferred N6,746,034,000 to Bureau De Change Operators, withdrew N540 million in cash, purchased luxury cars with N288,348,600 and bought luxury houses in Abuja and Enugu State with N2,195,115,000.

So far, 53 companies have been traced to Okwete, who was also said to have used 47 of the firms to secure Federal Government contracts amounting to N27,423,824,339.86.

He is also linked with 143 bank accounts in 12 commercial banks of which 134 accounts are corporate accounts linked to different companies.

Checks by our correspondent with the Corporate Affairs Commission revealed that Okwete is a director in only 11 of the 53 companies, while the remaining 42 companies’ accounts were linked to his Bank Verification Number as a signatory to the accounts.

PUNCH