Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said on Friday in
Enugu that Imo state government is under its searchlight for alleged
money laundering during the last gubernatorial election in the state.
The commission said based on its intervention, the sum of N5 billion was saved for the incoming administration to inherit.
The Southeast zonal head of EFCC, Usman Imam, told reporters that the
commission swung into action on receiving signals from Abuja of the
shady deals going on on the eve of the election and ensured that it
blocked all avenues money was being syphoned from.
Imam said already, the sums of N700m and N500m had been withdrawn
prior to their intervention and steps were already in progress to
withdraw another N1.8b when they arrived to stop it.
According to him, the sad thing about the shady deal was that the
monies were from the bailout fund received from the Federal Government
for the purpose of paying salaries and pensions.
But state government officials who are still answering questions
regarding the withdrawals claim the monies were for schools projects.
Imam further hinted that the zonal office fully participated in the
monitoring of elections in the zone in line with the acting chairman’s
directive to checkmate electoral fraud especially vote buying and money
laundering.
“The commission’s involvement was due to our realisation that we
cannot be said to be fighting corruption without looking critically at
electoral process to make sure they are not only transparent, but people
voted their conscience and not out of pecuniary or material
inducements,” he informed.
The EFCC zonal head outlined the achievements of the outfit in the zone within the first quarter of the year.
Among the achievements recorded include the recovery of N102.32m,
$6,450 and seized 30 different brands of cars all of which are being
investigated to ascertain which is actual proceed of crime or not.
Imam disclosed that the EFCC in the zone received a total of 557
petitions, out of which 127 were approved and under investigation. The
rest “were rejected on the grounds of being civil in nature, falling
under other agencies’ mandate or already being in court.”
He also announced that within the quarter, “the zone has secured a
total of 28 convictions, a 100 percent increase from a total of 14
convictions recorded last year.”
Imam lamented the rising cases of cyber crimes in the zone and
appealed to parents to take up their God-given responsibilities of
monitoring their children or wards.
He said: “In the east, the case of Internet or Cyber crimes popularly
called yahoo yahoo is very alarming and from investigations so far
made, it is unfortunate that some parents are not only aware of their
children’s involvement but even abets such terrible crime.
”What is very worrisome is that most of the perpetrators of these
crimes are students of higher institutions, graduates, youth corps
members and secondary school students who are already learning the ropes
from their elders in the nefarious business. “
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