By Kolawole Ojebisi
Mr. Ibrahim Magu, suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has described the allegations that he re-looted interests on recovered funds as “blatant falsehood.”
It was reported that the Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets (PCARA) grilling Magu had indicted the EFCC of re-looting recovered assets by the EFCC from May 2015 to May 2020.
According to NAN, the presidential panel had said the interest on the N550 billion recovered by the agency under Magu was re-looted.
However, in a statement released on Monday, Wahab Shittu, Magu’s counsel, described the claim as a “blatant falsehood”.
Debunking the damning reports against his client, Shittu said the recovered funds are lodged in the treasury single account (TSA) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), adding that funds in the TSA do not generate interests.
“It is falsehood that Magu placed N550 billion recovered loot into a deposit account,” the statement read.
“The alleged transaction never featured in the proceedings before the Salami panel. Magu was never confronted with any such allegation by the panel and the news is blatant falsehood.
“To the best of Magu’s knowledge, no such amount is in any such account and he remains aghast at such outrageous figures. No one has confronted Magu with such allegations.
“All recovered funds are lodged in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Such recovered funds do not generate interest. This is elementary and can be verified from the CBN and the federal ministry of finance.
“This can also be confirmed from other government revenue generating agencies. Funds kept in TSA account do not generate interest.”
Magu was arrested on July 6 by a combined team of officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) and 10 force criminal investigation department (FCID), Abuja.
Though the DSS initially denied having a hand in Magu’s arrest it was, however, reliably gathered that men of the State Security participated in his arrest.
Magu is currently being interrogated by a panel headed by Ayo Salami, former president of the appeal court.
There have been mounting allegations against the suspended EFCC acting chairman chunk of which border on lack of transparency in managing assets recovered by the commission.
Meanwhile, in a similar vein, it was gathered that some directors of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are currently being grilled by the presidential probe panel handling Magu’s case.
This will be the second set of people invited for interrogation by the presidential probe panel since the arrest of Ibrahim Magu exactly a week ago.
Recall that on Thursday, the panel grilled Magu’s alleged henchmen reportedly dubbed ” Magu Boys”.
The “boys” believed to be the blue-eyed boys of the suspended EFCC boss have been accused of committing several atrocities while the time of Magu in office lasted.
However, as of the time of filing this report there was no knowledge of the outcome of the grilling.
