Anti-graft investigators with the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are currently interrogating a
former managing director of one of the subsidiaries of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation and three former executive directors of
the oil corporation under ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The four are said to be under
investigation by officials of the Subsidy Unit of the EFCC and their
counterparts from the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom in
relation to the former minister’s case.
The PUNCH learnt on Sunday that the ex-NNPC MD and the three former EDs had already been directed to be reporting to investigators.
The four were said to be “very close” to Alison-Madueke while in office.
The four were said to be “very close” to Alison-Madueke while in office.
An EFCC source said the ex-minister might appear in court on Monday (today).
“The man has been sacked now. He has been
reporting to the EFCC since. Even three former executive directors are
also reporting to the EFCC to tell the agency what they know about the
NNPC funds,” a top official of the anti-graft agency said.
Check however indicated that the former
MD being investigated was not among the oil barons that were picked up
in the UK for alleged complicity in the money laundering case against
the former minister.
It was further gathered that security
agents were also probing an estranged ally of the former minister and
two others in the UK.
The UK authorities have been keeping the
identities of the affected people in line with their practice of keeping
the identities of those arrested until they are taken to court.
Our correspondents could not get the Head
of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, on Sunday as
calls to his mobile telephone line indicated that it had been switched
off.
But a top operative of the EFCC said on
Sunday that the EFCC investigation into the activities of the NNPC was
not just about Alison-Madueke.
The source said that more people could be grilled in relation to the probe of the corporation.
The source added that the UK Police,
which had been monitoring the former minister for close to two years,
had “something substantial” before moving against her.
Meanwhile, a former Lagos State
Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, while speaking on the
recent arrest and bail of Alison-Madueke, dismissed insinuations that
the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was out to settle
political scores.
Tsav, who spoke on the telephone with one
of our correspondents, noted that the former minister lived like she
was above the law.
Tsav cited Alison Madueke’s refusal to
appear before the National Assembly to answer charges of malfeasance
levelled against her as evidence of her “arrogance” and disdain for the
legislature and the country’s laws.
He said, “When (ex-President Goodluck)
Jonathan was still in power, the National Assembly invited her several
times to answer questions on some of these issues but she never honoured
any of the invitations.
“Even when the former governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria, now Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, made the
allegations that US$20bn was not accounted for; she refused to appear
before the National Assembly.”
Tsav said Nigeria had had the privilege
of having credible women such as Gambo Sawaba, Margaret Ekpo and
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who fought for the good of society and wondered
why it had become increasingly difficult to replicate their outstanding
performances.
He described as embarrassing the fact
that Nigeria still depended almost completely on the British police and
its criminal justice system to bring our corrupt public officials to
book, 55 years after our independence.
According to him, corruption is more than
anything else responsible for the inability of our criminal justice
system and our anti-graft agencies to act decisively over the past few
years.
Tsav said, “Our anti-corruption agencies
in Nigeria are not effective, apparently because there is too much
political interference.
“In the case of (ex-Delta State Governor
James) Ibori for instance, they found him not guilty in Nigeria but he
was arrested, prosecuted and convicted in the UK.
“These agencies are either corrupt
themselves or their activities are being interfered with by politicians.
But I would rather believe that they themselves are corrupt and they
are not willing to perform their duties very well.”
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