EFCC vs Jang: Judge chides EFCC for delaying proceedings

SHARES

BY Unknown Wednesday, July 18, 2018 0

EFCC vs Jang: Judge chides EFCC for delaying proceedings

Jos—Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos, yesterday, threatened to strike out criminal case against former governor of the state and Senator representing Plateau North in the National Assembly, Jonah Jang, by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, if the commission continued to delay proceedings with flimsy excuses.
He was reacting to the plea by counsel to EFCC, Mr. Henry Ejiga, who said the commission could not produce the witnesses in court, yesterday for security reasons. The case was slated for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The judge said if, for security reasons, the commission could not produce the witnesses in its custody, it should have produced the ones not in the commission’s custody, who were not at any security risk. He added that he was neither for the prosecution nor for the defence, but that he was out to use the Sword of Righteousness. Ejiga had cited security reasons why the EFCC could not produce the witnesses to testify in court, saying: “We are of great constraint as we have made effort to ensure that we produce the witnesses so that proceeding can go on. But unfortunately, we were informed of some security challenges, as a result, we are unable to present the witnesses today (yesterday). Infuriated by the delay in proceeding, lead counsel to the defendant, Mr. Robert Clarke (SAN) warned that “criminal trials are enjoined by the law to be speedy, because of that presumption that we are still innocent, we should not be treated as criminals. Justice delayed is justice denied.” Ruling, Justice Longji adjourned the case till October 30 and 31, and November 1, 2018, warning the EFCC and its counsel not to find reasons to ask for another adjournment.

Paris Club refund: Court freezes seven accounts linked to governors’ forum

SHARES

BY Unknown Friday, December 01, 2017 0

Paris Club refund: Court freezes seven accounts linked to governors’ forum

The Federal High Court in Abuja has frozen seven separate accounts which, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, were used by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to launder the sum of N10bn said to be derived from the proceeds of the Paris Club refund.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole directed on Wednesday that the freezing order would last for 45 days within which the EFCC must either institute charges in respect of the transactions against the relevant suspects or apply to the court for an extension of the order.

The judge also gave seven days to the account owners, if interested in seeking the setting aside of the freezing order, to file an application which must be served on the EFCC.

The frozen accounts are  0002184449 with Jaiz Bank Plc and operated by HAD Properties Limited; 0025600864 with Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and operated by Hassan Ahmed Danbaba; as well as 0005892453 with Access Bank Plc and operated by Melrose General Services Coy.

They also include one Access Bank account,  0045824054 and another Zenith Bank Plc account 1010948906, both of which belong to Bina Consult and Integrated Services.

The rest are two Access Bank Plc accounts – 0700755576 and 0700946008 – belonging to Farouk Adamu Aliyu and Malam Alu Agro Allied Company Ltd., respectively.

EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Ben Ikani, had moved the ex parte application seeking the freezing of the accounts on November 27, following which Justice Kolawole adjourned till Wednesday for ruling.

The commission alleged that its preliminary investigation had revealed that the N10bn was fraudulently diverted by the NGF under the guise of paying consultancy fee to BizPlus GSCL Consortium which the Forum engaged “to carry out reconciliation of accounts and recover the amounts due to the states” from the refund of the over-deducted payment of Paris Club debt by the Federal Government from 1995 to 2002.

In an affidavit filed in support of the EFCC’s ex parte motion, a member of the Special Investigation Committee, set up by the commission to investigate the alleged Paris Club refunds scam, Osas Azonabor, alleged that preliminary investigation had revealed that the NGF caused the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay N19,439,225,871.11 into its account for onward payment to BizPlus as consultancy fee.

But the investigator stated that N10bn of the N19.4bn paid to the NGF account by the CBN was fraudulently disbursed to the seven accounts of companies and individuals, who were not part of the said BizPlus GSCL Consortium.

Detailing how the fraud was allegedly perpetrated, Azonabor alleged that the NGF had agreed to pay success fee of two per cent to BizPlus GSCL Consortium.

But the investigator alleged that upon the success of the recovery, rather than stick to the two per cent fee, the NGF caused the Central Bank of Nigeria to deduct five per cent, amounting to the N19.4bn.

He said, “That sometime in January 2017, the applicant (EFCC) received intelligence in respect of a case against the Nigerian Governors’ Forum alleging conspiracy, criminal misappropriation of public funds involving the sum of N19,439,225,871.11 out of the Paris Club refund made by the Federal Government in favour of the 36 states of the federation.

“That preliminary investigation conducted by the commission revealed that the 36 state governments, under the auspices of the NGF, engaged the services of Bizplus GSCL Consortium to carry out reconciliation of accounts and recover amounts due to the states from line charge made on them from 1995 to 2002 for a success fee of two per cent payable by the NGF.

“That investigation further revealed that contrary to the agreed fee of two per cent as stated in paragraph 6 above, NGF caused the Central Bank of Nigeria to deduct five per cent of the amount due to the states which amounted to the sum of N19.4bn (stated in paragraph 5 above) and paid the same into the NGF account, supposedly for onward payment to the Bizplus GSCL consortium.

“That our investigation of the case further revealed that a larger part of the amount stated in paragraphs 5 and 7 above was fraudulently disbursed by the NGF to individuals and corporate entities that were not part of the consortium.

“That the names, account numbers and bankers of the fraudulent beneficiaries of the criminal diversion of the public funds are as stated in the schedule to this application and that copies of the statements of accounts showing the disbursements is hereby attached and marked Exhibits EFCC1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 respectively.

“That further investigation revealed that those individuals and corporate entities were used by the NGF to launder over N10bn under the guise of paying consultancy fees to the Bizplus GSCL Consortium which, however, found its way to the various accounts listed in the schedule to this application.”

Justifying the commission’s request for the freezing order, Azonabor stated that the 72 hours stop-order allowed by law to be placed on any account suspected to be involved in suspicious transaction or any crime had expired, but investigation had yet to be concluded.

He maintained that the court order freezing the accounts was needed to enable the EFCC to carry out its investigation to a logical conclusion.

He said, “That further to the foregoing, I am aware that substantial amounts from the fraudulent disbursements into these accounts have further been laundered to some other accounts or withdrawn as cash. While discrete investigation is currently ongoing, the 72 hours stop order allowed by law to be placed on any account suspected to be involved in suspicious transaction or any crime has expired.’’

EFCC joins probe of Gwarzo suspended SEC DG

SHARES

BY Unknown Thursday, November 30, 2017 0

EFCC joins probe of Gwarzo suspended SEC DG

EFCC joins probe of Gwarzo suspended SEC DG.
Mounir Gwarzo, suspended director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission is facing at least two enquiries over his role as helmsman of the commission since 2015. Mounir H. Gwarzo Apart from the administrative enquiry ordered by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, Gwarzo is also being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
EFCC wants to unravel the owners of the nine companies that were awarded contracts by the SEC under Gwarzo. They include Outbound Investment Limited, Medusa Investments Limited, Northwind Environmental Services, Micro-Technologies Limited, Tida International Limited, Outlook Communications, Acromac Nigeria Limited, Balfort International Investment Limited and Interactiven Worldwide Nigeria Limited. According to the EFCC, Gwarzo, his wife and other cronies allegedly used these companies to carry out illegal transactions in SEC. Gwarzo, 30 months old as SEC DG, was suspended by the finance minister over allegations of financial misappropriation. He replaced Ms. Arunma Oteh, who resigned in January 2015. Gwarzo was then the Commissioner in charge of operations. Finance Ministry’s Deputy Director of Information, Mrs Patricia Deworitshe in a statement on Wednesday said that the suspension was to allow unhindered investigation into several allegations of financial impropriety leveled against Gwarzo. Deworitshes said that Mr Abdulsalam Naif Habu, Head of Media Division, SEC and Mrs Anastasia Braimoh, Head of Legal Department of SEC had also been suspended. “The suspension is in line with the Public Service Rules (PSRs) 03405 and 03406. “The Minister has set up an Administrative Panel of Inquiry (API) to investigate and determine the culpability of the Director-General. “She has directed the suspended SEC Director-General to immediately handover to the most senior officer at the Commission, pending the conclusion of investigation by the API,” she said. Gwarzo allegedly paid himself N104 million severance package when he was appointed DG SEC from the position of a Director in the same commission. This is in total disregard to the standing rule in the civil service which states that severance benefit can only be paid to an employee who has concluded his or her service or has completely disengaged from service. Since Gwarzo was promoted within the commission to become a Director-general, the service rule says that he’s not yet entitled to a severance package. Gwarzo, aged 52, born in Kano, attended Bayero University also in Kano, where he read Economics and graduated in 1987. In 1991, he obtained a post-graduate diploma in development finance from the University of Birmingham.