The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has frozen an account linked to Shalewa Obanikoro, the daughter of a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.
According to EFCC investigators, about N1.2bn passed through the account which belongs to an oil firm.
Shalewa, who is a signatory to the account, was said to have personally mandated Fidelity Bank to transfer N800m from the account to another account within the bank.
A source in the anti-graft agency on Tuesday said, “We have frozen an account in which Obanikoro’s daughter is a signatory. She specifically mandated the bank to transfer N800m from the account to another account.
“We discovered that money was paid into the account at various times. The money came in N50m, N20m, N30m and various sums.
“She said the money was for oil and gas transactions. So, we have frozen the account as investigations continue. We want to know where the funds came from. At least N1.2bn has passed through the account.”
The EFCC was said to have made the discovery of Shalewa’s transactions when it was investigating the N4.7bn allegedly paid into the account of Obanikoro’s two sons – Babajide and Gbolahan.
The money, which was paid into the Diamond Bank of Sylvan McNamara, was allegedly shared among Obanikoro, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose; and the then governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore.
While Omisore is in detention for allegedly receiving N1.3bn, five properties, allegedly belonging to Fayose, have been seized while his three Zenith Bank accounts have been frozen.
A house belonging to Obanikoro’s two sons in Ikoyi, Lagos, has also been seized. Obanikoro and his sons have, however, remained in the United States for the last 14 months.
The anti-graft agency had, last week, quizzed Shalewa and seized her passport to prevent her from travelling to the US.
“We seized her passport because we were told that she was planning on travelling soon. We had to prevent her from travelling since she is part of the investigation,” a detective said.
Apart from the N4.7bn arms scam rocking the Obanikoro family, MOB Integrated Services Ltd, a company headed by Obanikoro’s second son, Gbolahan, was implicated by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede-led Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation in 2012 over an alleged petroleum subsidy fraud.
The company was said to have made three transactions valued at N5,393,592,906.62. However, investigations revealed that the company only made one transaction valued at N3,261,263,992.52 verified as legitimate.
The difference of over N2bn was allegedly embezzled as MOB did not make the needed oil supply.
However, sources at the commission told our correspondent that after Obanikoro was appointed the Minister of State for Defence, the case was mysteriously suspended indefinitely.
The oil business linked to Obanikoro’s daughter has therefore opened a new dimension to the subsidy fraud case.
A source at the EFCC said, “Obanikoro’s case is very easy to investigate because unlike other politicians, he used his children to carry out most of his alleged crimes. Out of his four children, we have seen suspicious transactions in the accounts of three of them. There is no way these young guys will have billions in their accounts if they were not fronting for their father.”
Meanwhile, the EFCC on Tuesday grilled a former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, for receiving N100m from the embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
The EFCC, however, discovered that N15m was also transferred to Okupe from the account of Destra Investment Limited, a company owned by the immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, who is on trial for allegedly receiving N400m from Dasuki.
Ironically, Okupe is one of the defence witnesses in the case against Metuh.
A source at the EFCC said, “Okupe came again as usual and we grilled him over the funds he has openly confessed to receiving from Dasuki. He claims to have spent all the money but we keep making fresh discoveries.
“He received about N15m from Destra Investment Limited, owned by Metuh. Okupe is also one of Metuh’s defence witnesses. Okupe had appeared before the Federal High Court to defend Metuh and yet he (Okupe) has confessed to receiving money from Dasuki and he also collected N15m from Metuh.
“When we confronted him with evidence, he was shocked and could not respond.”
Okupe had, on May 19, 2016, told Justice Okon Abang that Metuh received N400m from Jonathan but argued that the fund could not have emanated from the ONSA.
While defending Metuh, Okupe had said, “I am surprised to hear that the Office of the National Security Adviser was used to distribute money for Jonathan’s presidential campaign. However, the President could also use his tremendous goodwill to source funds to assist his party or help to execute special programmes.
“Besides, as the candidate for election, the President has immense capacity to raise funds as a candidate. He did not use any government establishment as his pseudo-sponsor.”
It was learnt that Okupe risked being charged with conspiracy alongside Metuh depending on the outcome of investigations.
An EFCC investigator added, “With this new revelation, it is possible that Okupe knew that Metuh’s N400m emanated from the ONSA but went to court to defend Metuh in order to cover his tracks, having received N15m. We are still investigating the matter.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
In fact the amount of money efcc are looking for is very ridiculous. Initially, they were investigating the money shared to pdp members by dasuki, about 4.5Bn. Looking at the way the whole matter is sounding, we are getting confused on how much they are actually trying to recover. Why can`t efcc be focused for once and also be calculative. They keep running from pillar to post. Sometime efcc will break into an accused house and pack gold watches, eye glasses, rings and wallets. What is really wrong with this apc/panadol government.
ReplyDeleteYam scatter and scatter pepper.........getting interesting and am loving it so much
ReplyDeleteI see a situation where the EFCC will be sued for several human rights violations and will be forced to pay compensations due to their poor handling of cases.
ReplyDeleteYou may be right that a certain individual has undertaken corruption practices, but the way and manner the commission is freezing accounts piling up cases upon cases without properly concluded previous cases has painted a picture of a commission that seems to have a crip on issues.
If I were in the Obanikoro circle I would start cleaning my closet. By the time you come, everything will be as straight as an arrow.
Most of you will also steal if you are in their shoes as I can not see sense in all what you commented on here. Did they steal those money or not, did those money found in their account or not, have they been able to proofed to EFCC the source of those money, did EFCC told you that they are confused, were you supposed to be confused for what is not your business, are you concern at all about your future at all, have you not seen that our nation can never develop in atmosphere infected by corruption, has your relative gone to hospital and told you there is no drugs or doctor to attend, do you have any body that has died in motor accident before due to bad road that was supposed to have been completed but not, did you pass through university without strike.If all of you are youths then you are are a dissapointment, if you are old then your children future are bleak, if you comment because of tribal or political affiliation then this present Nigeria dispensation will find you out as you must be very close to thieves or you have accepted stolen money before or you are being pained due to stoppages of free largesse from your PDP. I wish you good luck sha.
ReplyDeleteWe should also blame US, UK that allow thieves to run to their country for refuge, similar avoc they will commit in your country in the future as stealing is in the blood of such people's generation.
ReplyDelete