Investigators at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have stumbled on evidence that showed how prominent politicians, mostly from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) allegedly shared N3.145 billion in the build-up to the last presidential elections.
Among the beneficiaries of the bazaar are a former Aviation minister and director of Media for the defunct Goodluck Jonathan Campaign organization Femi Fani-Kayode; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of Social Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae; a former Finance minister Nenadi Usman; former Imo State governor Achike Udenwa; former minister of state for Foreign Affairs Viola Onwuliri and Okey Ezenwa.
A source at the anti-graft agency who pleaded not to be named said the money was paid by Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) into the account of the Ministry of External Affairs Library, from where it was moved into the account of Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Ltd.
The source added, “It was from the Joint Dimensions account with Zenith Bank that the money was shared to various individuals and organizations for purposes that are not stated.”
Available documents showed that Fani-Kayode was the chief beneficiary of the disbursement as he allegedly received N840 million, paid in three tranches into his Zenith Bank, Maitama Branch account with No.1004735721.
The first tranche of N350 million was paid into the account on February 19, 2015. Another N250 milion was later paid into the account on the same day while N240 million was similarly credited to the account a month later; precisely, March 19, 2015.
The source disclosed that the balance on this account as at December 31, 2015 was N189,402.72.
Next in the order of beneficiaries of the heist is Goodluck Support Group which allegedly received N320 million.
Similarly, Chief Falae allegedly received N100m through Marreco Limited, a company where he is Chairman. The fund was credited to the company’s United Bank for Africa Plc account No. 1000627022 on March 25, 2014.
Both Achike Udenwa and Viola Onwuliri got N350 million in two tranches. The first tranche of N150 million was paid into their joint account with Zenith bank on January 13, 2015. The second tranche of N200 million was credited to their account with Diamond Bank.
Nenadi Usman took her share of the booty through her Zenith Bank account no. 1000158311 on 7, Kachia Road, Kaduna. A princely but comparatively small N36.9 million was credited to her.
Coming at the rear is Okey Ezenwa who also pocketed N100 million.
The total for these multimillion naira beneficiaries of the treasury loot sum up to N1.747bn or approximately 55.54 percent of the N3.145bn total. So, either hundreds of small looters make up the remaining approximately 44.5 percent of the sum or other multi-million naira beneficiaries were skipped while scanning the documents.
The source disclosed that detectives are racking their brains to decipher the motives for the bazaar. “But as things stand, the fact that most of the payments were made in the weeks preceding the last presidential elections leaves very little to the imagination.”
Yet, one knotty question that confronts the investigators is the owner behind the Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Ltd, the account where the fund was warehoused before being wired to sundry beneficiaries. The shadowy figure could help unravel the mystery shrouding the payments, once the veil is lifted.
-Vanguard
