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Tag: $43.4m

  • $43.4m NIA cash: EFCC has never paid whistlebower

    $43.4m NIA cash: EFCC has never paid whistlebower

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission yesterday said it never claimed that  the whistleblower, who uncovered $43.4million in Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, has been paid.

    It clarified that it is “not even directly responsible for the payment of rewards to whistle blowers.”

    The agency also insisted that there was no controversy about the exact amount recovered in the operation which was streamed live.

    The clarifications were made by the Head, Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren in a statement in Abuja.

    The statement said: “Following publications in sections of the social media today, November 10, It has become necessary to clarify the statement credited to the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu regarding the status of the whistle blower in the Osborne Tower cash recovery. What Magu said at the 7th Session of the Council of State Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in Vienna, Austria,  was that citizens should be encouraged to embrace whistle blowing because of the incentives attached.

    “To illustrate this, he stated that the the gentleman who provided the information that triggered the huge recovery at Osborne Towers in Ikoyi  was already a millionaire based on the incentive in the whistle blower policy where information providers are entitled to between 2.5 and 5 % of the recovered  sum.

    Hear him, “We are currently working on the young man because this is just a man who has not seen one million Naira of his own before. So he is under counseling on how to make good use of the money and also the security implication. We don’t want anything bad to happen to him after taking delivery of his entitlement. He is a national pride”.

    “Magu never said that the young man has been paid. The Commission is not even directly responsible for the payment of rewards to whistle blowers.

    “There is also no controversy about the exact amount recovered in the operation which was streamed live, the first of its kind, and witnessed by the whistle blower, security at the Towers and representative of the agency which claimed ownership of the money.”

  • $43.4m: Before the forfeiture

    T WAS ONE recovery that exposed the true character of some of our politicians. It was not the first time the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would be making such a recovery, but it was the first time its recovery was threatening to bring the country down, as it were, on every one of us. The recovery was made in an highbrow apartment in Osborne, Ikoyi, Lagos. The cash haul caused mouths to water – $43.4million, N23, 218, 000 and 27,800 pounds. It was found in Apartment 7B House 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi.

    How did the money get to the apartment? Who owns it? Why was it kept in that apartment? These were some of the questions the public asked as soon as news of the recovered cash broke. From reports, it was gathered that Folashade, wife of the suspended Director-General‘of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Ambassador Ayodele Oke, bought the flat where the money was found. She was said to have bought the house from Fine and Country Limited for $1.658million between August 25 and September 3, 2015, in the name of Chobe Ventures Limited.

    Mrs Oke and her son, Ayodele junior, according to papers filed in court by EFCC, are the directors of Chobe Ventures. What does Chobe Ventures do? The EFCC did not state in its affidavit. So, does the money belong to NIA? If it does not, whose money is it?

    This is the knot Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos is expected to untie when he rules on June 6 on EFCC’s application for permanent forfeiture of the cash to the Federal Government. Before the matter went to court, many people had laid claim to the money, with Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike threatening heaven and earth, if the cash was not returned to its ‘’rightful owner, Rivers State’’. Wike claimed that the money was part of the proceeds of the state’s gas turbines sold by his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi. He gave the government two weeks to return the money  or he will go to court. Since that outburst, the governor has been unusually silent because emerging facts do not support his claim. Does that mean he has dropped his state’s claim to the money? We will return to that shortly.

    The NIA is not a run-of-the-mill agency. It works to protect the country from external threat and its job is shrouded in secrecy in order not to jeopardise the lives of its agents, who work incognito. Those who should know are concerned with the dimension that the case is taking, especially reports that NIA is laying claim to the money. Former External Affairs Minister Prof Bolaji Akinyemi and erstwhile Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku are worried that the activities of NIA, which should not be in the open, are being exposed unduly.  Anyaoku, who rarely grants interviews, said in a statement issued from London that he aligned with Akinyemi’s position that everything concerning NIA in respect of the money should be handled secretly in line with global practice.

    Unfortunately, it is the NIA that should be blamed for whatever is happening to it today. I do not support exposing our security agents in whatever form but they too should not do anything to compromise their integrity. Their lives are always at stake because of the job they do. This is why we owe them the duty of protecting them by not blowing their cover. But, what if they blow their own cover, as we have seen in this case? If truly the money belongs to NIA, then it is its fault that the recovery of the cash has generated this huge row. All the NIA needed to do when EFCC stumbled on the money was to have called higher authorities, which would have directed the anti-graft agency to back off.

    But, it seems something was fishy, which made EFCC to blow the matter open. Having said that, what do we make of Wike’s claim to the money? Barely 24 hours after the money was found, Wike called a press conference, where he alleged that  Amaechi took the cash, which belongs to Rivers for the purpose of campaigning for President Muhammadu Buhari in the last election. He did not stop at that. He invited clergymen to the government house in Port Harcourt to pray to God to touch the heart of the Federal Government to release the money to its ‘’rightful owner’’. Who is this ‘’rightful owner’’? Wike and others laying claim to the money were given ample time by Justice Hassan to prove their claims.

    On April 13 while ordering the temporary forfeiture of the money to the government, the judge gave claimants up till May 5 to bring their proof. Neither Wike nor NIA nor any other person laying claim to the money did so. How can that be? Is Wike now saying the money no longer belongs to Rivers? The money is Rivers and it must be returned to the state with interest. With that kind of money, Wike will do more projects for the state and also extend the gesture to other states, if need be.

    There is a lesson to learn from all this by our politicians. We should not play politics with every issue. What was the need in Wike inveighing Amaechi and inviting clerics to pray and fast for money that does not belong to his state? Wike misfired and abused the privilege of his office in maligning his predecessor. The court gave him opportunity to prove ownership of the money, but he did not do so.

    By his silence, he has eaten his words and vindicated Amaechi over this matter. But must politicians descend to this level in order to settle scores? Anyway, the court is waiting for Wike to come for his state’s money.

  • $43.4m: NIA may sell apartment

    $43.4m: NIA may sell apartment

    Apartment 7B, the Osborne Towers expensive home where $43.4m was found, may be sold, it was learnt yesterday.
    A Presidential Investigative Committee is probing the suspended Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Amb. Ayo Oke, over the cash and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, for a N200million contract awarded to a company, Global Vision Limited,  linked with him.
    There were indications yesterday that:
    •the committee may have concluded the SGF’s case, which a source described as “straightforward”;
    •the Presidency is of the opinion that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Babagana Monguno, has no case to answer on the $43.4m; and that
    •the committee may not ask Monguno, who is one of its members, to step aside.
    It was learnt that a directive had been given to the agency to put the apartment in the property market.
    The apartment may fetch the agency about N200 million, a source said.
    The outcome of the Osinbajo Committee’s report will determine whether or not the EFCC has any further role to play on the seized $43.4 million and the N200 million alleged contract scandal.
    A source in the anti-graft agency said: “Once the report is submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari, whatever we should do will be communicated by the Presidency through the committee.
    “If any public officer will further be investigated or prosecuted, it is the committee which will determine the next step.
    “So far, it is becoming clearer that more public officers might have cases to answer.”
    The EFCC has filed an application before Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court, Lagos for the permanent forfeiture of the $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000, which it recovered at the Osborne Towers apartment to the Federal Government.
    Any person or agency claiming ownership of the cash is expected to appear before the judge on May 5, with proof, to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the government.
    There were speculations that the SGF had been recommended for trial but no committee member or presidency official could confirm this last night.
    “I think Lawal has got wind of the decision of the committee but he is unruffled,” a source added.
    There were indications that Gen. Monguno may not be asked to step aside from the committee.
    Oke had claimed that the NSA was in the picture of the seized $43.4 million, which he said was part of a $289 million Special Intervention Funds.
    He told the panel that he wrote a memo to the NSA on January 26, 2016 on the $289 million released to NIA and attached a list of nine projects being executed.
    He also said the NIA raised a committee in February 2016 to assess the projects.
    The suspended director-general said on May 17, 2016, the NSA informed  him via a memo that the “detailed report of the NIA’s projects and exercises had been presented to the president and the president was pleased with their work”.
    A source told The Nation: “When Oke appeared before the committee, he repeated all these official procedures in the presence of the NSA who did not make any comments.
    “It is on this basis that Oke told the committee that the NSA knew about the $43.4m cash.
    “And there has been pressure on the committee to ask NSA to step aside.”
    But a source in the Presidency last night said the panel saw no reason for Monguno to step aside.
    The source said: “Some forces are just eager to drag the NSA into this crisis without taking note of the fact that he had nothing to do with it.
    “The NSA can even be described as the whistle-blower. He was mandated by President Buhari to raise a committee to probe arms procurement. It was the committee which actually detected that $289 million extra-.budgetary cash was allocated to NIA.
    “The NIA DG wrote the NSA after the arms probe panel made the discovery. It was not as if it was a willing thing.
    “The President put the NSA on Osinbajo panel because he has a comprehensive report and deep knowledge of the funds disbursed through the Central Bank of Nigeria, NNPC accounts and other agencies.
    “When the government read the report of the NSA/NIA DG ‘clash’, it was strange because NSA was never a party to the cash haul at Osborne Towers.
    “And what is being investigated is not the $289 million per se but $43.4 million found in the apartment in Osborne Towers.
    “The Presidency has made up its mind that the NSA will serve on the Osinbajo panel to the end.”
    A source in NIA explained why it was important for the NSA to step aside.
    “We expect the panel to invite and interrogate him on some issues tabled by the DG.
    “You cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time. He cannot sit in judgment over a matter he knew about.
    “We hope the President will drop the NSA from the panel.”
    A former spokesman for the Goodluck Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said the suspended NIA director-general did not spend any money on the former President’s campaign organisation.
    Femi-Kayode made this statement in a tweet on Monday. He said: “The attempt to rubbish the D-G of NIA and destroy him by certain elements in govt. will fail. He did not spend one kobo on GEJ’s campaign”.

  • $43.4m: Osinbajo Panel compiles list of invitees

    $43.4m: Osinbajo Panel compiles list of invitees

    Barely 24 hours after its constitution, the Presidential Investigative Committee on alleged infractions by two senior government officials got cracking yesterday.

    The committee, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, is probing suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Director-General Ayo Oke.

    Lawal is alleged to have awarded a N200million contract to a company, Global Vision Limited, linked with him by the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) for the clearing of “invasive plant species” (weeds) in Yobe State.

    Oke is being investigated over the $43.4million “covert operations” cash, which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) found in an apartment in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    Contrary to the popular thinking that the NIA hid the $43.4million away from President Muhammadu Buhari, sources in the agency said yesterday that a brief was submitted to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) detailing the cash at hand as part of a comprehensive report for the President. But it was not clear last night whether the President actually got the report.

    The Vice President and committee members met yesterday on their two-week mandate.

    A source said: “The VP and members of the panel met to set up the structure for their investigation and list those who are likely to be interrogated.

    “Members also got copies of the Interim Report which was submitted to the Presidency by the Acting Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu and briefs from Engr. Babachir Lawal and Amb. Ayo Oke.

    “The collation of issues to determine was ongoing as at press time .Once it is done, what is left is to isolate others who will appear before the panel, apart from Magu, the SGF and DG NIA. It is a big assignment with the right foundation laid by different memos/briefs already submitted to the Presidency.”

    The committee is also expecting details of the operation in Osborne Towers from the EFCC, whose Acting Chairman Magu returned to Abuja yesterday.

    Another source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The committee will certainly interact with all those involved in the request and approval of the funds; the remittance of the cash and those in charge of the management of Osborne Towers.

    Some lawyers may represent the embattled SGF, the NIA DG, companies and others who are to appear before the committee. But, it could not be immediately ascertained if the committee will be disposed to the engagement of lawyers.

    A source said: “This investigation is about the reputation of some individuals and companies who have decided to engage lawyers to be on their defence team.

    “Those affected do not want to appear before the committee and get locked in any technicality which may lead to their dismissal or prosecution.

    “Their argument is that it is also the standard practice all over the world to get counsel to come along with those being investigated.”

    NIA sources insisted last night that the agency did not hide the $43.4million from President Buhari.

    A source said: “Contrary to what is being said, the NIA actually did not hide the $43.4million from President Muhammadu Buhari. This will imply that the agency has an ulterior motive.

    “What actually happened was that the agency’s brief was submitted to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) detailing the cash at hand, including the $43.4m, as part of a comprehensive report for the President.

    “We have all the memos written to ONSA. It is also a good development that the NSA, Gen. Babagana Monguno, is a member of Osinbajo’s committee. We hope that at the appropriate time, he will step aside to either corroborate or deny these memos.”

    Apart from the Vice President and Monguno, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami(AGF), is also a member of the committee.

    The three-man committee is expected to:

    • enquire into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds;
    • find out how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA; and to
    • establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds.

    There were indications last night that the EFCC has ended its search and combing operations in Osborne Towers in Lagos in respect of the $43.4million haul.

    The operatives drafted for the assignment have returned to Abuja.

    But a skeletal surveillance was left in the controversial Apartment 7B.

    Also, it was learnt that the anti-graft commission has obtained some vital documents from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on the company used to acquire the apartment by the National Intelligence Agency (CAC).

    It was gathered that one of the documents provided a fresh insight into the acquisition of the apartment with EFCC putting another company in Ikeja under watch.

    A reliable source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The EFCC has ended its search and combing of apartments in Osborne Towers. Those who went for the operation in Lagos are back to Abuja.

    “There is however a surveillance still being out in place in Apartment 7B where over $43.4million was recovered.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “We have also obtained vital documents from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) implicating another company in Ikeja. The company is now under EFCC watch including the profiling of its accounts.

  • Falana advises govt to handle $43.4m cash haul with care

    Falana advises govt to handle $43.4m cash haul with care

    ACTIVIST lawyer Femi Falana yesterday expressed reservations over the controversies trailing the cash found in a residential apartment on Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    He urged the authorities to handle the matter with transparency to avoid a repeat of what happened to the $9.3 million ferried to South Africa in a private jet in 2014.

    According to him, like the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) claimed the ownership of the $9.3 million, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has come out to claim the sum of $43 million, N22 million and £27,000 seized by the EFCC last week.

    Falana’s statement reads: “In 2014, two businessmen (an Israeli and a Nigerian) smuggled $9.3 million to South Africa from Nigeria. It was alleged that the private jet with which the fund was hauled was leased from the then President of Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

    “Both suspects were arrested while the fund was seized.  The additional sum of $5.7 million sent to South Africa through a bank by the duo was also seized. Although the Federal Government was not implicated in the transfer of the fund, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) later claimed that the $15 million was meant for the purchase of arms from a firm in South Africa.

    “As the ONSA could not justify the brazen contravention of the Money Laundering Act of South Africa, the fund was confiscated on the orders of a High Court in Pretoria. When tried last year to confirm from the Attorney-General of the Federation if the forfeited sum of  $15 million had been recovered from the President Jacob Zuma regime, I was asked to direct my enquiry to the ONSA.

    “It is hoped that history is not repeating itself with respect to the embarrassing  attempt by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to claim the sum of $43 million, N22 million and £27,000 seized by the EFCC last week from a flat at a building in Osborne Road, Ikoyi.

    “The Federal Government owes the nation a duty to handle this matter with utmost transparency and circumspection. The NIA should not be allowed to play on the collective intelligence of the Nigerian people. If the Federal Government believes the cock and bull story of the NIA, the danger is that similar hidden funds are going to be officially protected, thereby making a mockery of the whistle-blowing policy of the government.

    “We must avoid a situation whereby huge funds hidden in abandoned buildings and apartments are said to be “operational funds” kept by certain security agencies. If the EFCC had refused to seize the fund last week, the whistle-blower could have rushed to the media to accuse the Buhari administration of keeping stolen money for the 2019 general elections.

    “Apart from the NIA, the Rivers State government is also laying claim to the fund. But instead of giving the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum to hand over the money to the Rives State government, Governor Nyesom Wike should instruct his attorney-general to file an affidavit at the Federal High Court.

    “But before doing that, he should carefully study the case of FRN v CBN (unreported) where the application of the Delta State government to claim the bribe of $15 million paid to the then EFCC chairman, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, by a former governor of the state was dismissed as the applicant was unable to prove that it owned the money.

    “On a more serious note, are Nigerians to believe that an agency of the federal government kept about $50 million in an apartment without adequate security personnel to guard the money? Why was the fund not kept in a safe in the well-fortified ONSA?  When was the National Intelligence Agency exempted from the Treasury Single Account (TSA)?

    “If the DG of NIA has just gone to brief President Buhari that the fund was collected from former President Goodluck Jonathan for a special project, why did the briefing not take place before now? Since the NIA is in charge of external security why was it necessary to execute projects in the country? How much of such fund is being kept in private homes by the NIA and other security agencies?

    “Since the whistle-blowing policy of the Federal Government commenced why has the NIA not deemed it fit to take the anti-graft agencies into confidence with respect to the fund being kept in Ikoyi for the so called covert operations?

    “Is the Federal Government not being exposed to ridicule when corrupt public officers are competing with government departments to hide millions of United States dollars in dump sites and ‘safe’ apartments? Anyway, since the Federal High Court has granted the application filed by the EFCC for an interim forfeiture of the fund, it is no longer an internal affair of the Buhari administration.  Let the National Intelligence Agency approach the court with convert proof to claim the money.”

  • Row over ownership of $43.4m seized by EFCC deepens

    Row over ownership of $43.4m seized by EFCC deepens

    Barely 72 hours after, the row over the owner of $43.4 million uncovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has deepened.

    There were still conflicting reports last night about the sources of the cash and the actual owners.

    A twist also crept into the saga last night with claims by Governor Nyesom Wike that the money belongs to the River State Government.

    He said it was the proceed from the sale of gas turbines by the immediate past administration of Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi in the state.

    A government source claimed that the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan approved the release of the cash to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

    The source said the money was approved during the tenure of a former Director-General of NIA, Mr. Olaniyi Oladeji.

    Another source alleged that a former governor was implicated as having a link with the cash.

    A firm,  which owns  Apartment 7B where the cash was kept, has been identified with the ex-governor.

    It was also gathered that the profiling of the 12-storey building revealed that many highly-placed Nigerians live there, fueling speculations that there might be more to the recovery of the cash.

    But Presidency and security sources told Premium Times last night that the cash belongs to the NIA.

    Following whistle-blowing, EFCC on Wednesday uncovered $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23,218,000 at 16, Osborne Road (Osborne Towers) in Ikoyi. The building houses luxury flats.

    A reliable source, who spoke in confidence, said:  “We have many dimensions to the recovered $43.4 million and other cash.

    “The controversial apartment 7B has been linked with a company related to a former governor.

    “There is suspicion that the ex-governor was trying to evade alert in the banking system by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit by keeping the cash in the apartment.

    “The ongoing investigation will reveal the truth or otherwise of the complicity of the ex-governor  on how the cash found its way into the apartment.

    “One of the clues being probed last night was that the ex-governor’s associated company might have been engaged to keep the cash.

    “But one might want to know why a security agency would engage a private firm to keep money for it. Is a private company better equipped than a security agency of government?

    “If you look at Osborne Towers, the controversial apartment is unqualified to be called a ‘Safe House’ for any covert operation.

    “The profiling of the Towers reveal that some highly-placed Nigerians, including a few people on EFCC radar, are living there. We have their list under wraps.”

    The  source added: “There might be more to the cash.”

    Quoting unnamed Presidency sources, Premium Times, an online newspaper, wrote yesterday that the $43.4 million belongs to the National Intelligence Agency( NIA).

    The sources said ex-President Goodluck Jonathan approved the funds for NIA after its  former Director-General, Olaniyi Oladeji, demanded for funds for “crucial and covert security projects.”

    Premium Times said the funds were later released in cash directly from the Central Bank of Nigeria as “a way of making its spending completely secret.”

    One of  the presidency and security sources said: “The projects are scattered across the country, but there is a major one in Lagos being funded with the cash warehoused in the Ikoyi building.

    “The spending on the projects cannot be subjected to the usual expenditure process, and that is why the funds are held in cash. If you like, you can call it illegal projects in the national interest.”

    Such sensitive projects were restricted to a few  government officials and of the NIA.

    The online newspaper added: “One official said when the incumbent Director General of the NIA, Ayodele Oke, was alerted that EFCC operatives had swooped on the apartment, being discreetly guarded by covert operatives, he rushed to the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in Abuja to advise its chairman, Ibrahim Magu, to withdraw his men as the funds belonged to government.

    “At the time, about 13 police officers and some soldiers, accompanied by photographers and videographers, had broken into the apartment and were already dismantling the safes in which the funds were concealed, our sources said.

    “Mr. Magu however declined Mr. Oke’s request. Instead, he directed his men to proceed with the operation, those familiar with the matter said.

    “A frustrated Mr. Oke was said to have rushed to the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to complain about Mr. Magu’s attitude, and the huge embarrassment he had caused his otherwise extremely quiet and secretive agency.”

    On Thursday, presidency sources said, Mr Oke met President Muhammadu Buhari in company with Attorney General Abubakar Malami to table the same complaints.

    “Those who saw the NIA DG before he was called in to see the President said he had two bulky envelopes believed to contain paper and audio-visual records of the security projects.

    Officials said President Buhari has since directed Mr. Magu to forward to him detailed report on the operation.

    “The EFCC boss was also directed to immediately deposit the funds with the CBN.

    “On his part, Mr. Oke was asked to properly document his complaints against Mr. Magu, and then reapply for the seized funds”

    A top presidency source said the President might ask Attorney General Malami to review reports submitted by the two officials, and then forward appropriate recommendations.

    But in a statement issued by by his Special Assistant on Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, Wike gave the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum to return  the funds allegedly diverted by Amaechi to the Rivers State Government.

    Failure to do so, he said, the state government  would take legal measures to ensure  that it gets back her “stolen  resources”.

    Addressing journalists at the Government House, Port Harcourt last night, Governor Wike said: “If you recollect in 2015, we said that gas turbines built by Former Governor Peter Odili were sold  at $319 million.”

    The EFCC discovery has continued to elicit varied reactions from Nigerians.