Politics
Breaking: EFCC Reveals Identity Of Minister Who Laundered $37Million
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, had claimed that a female minister laundered $37.5m.
Bawa disclosed this while speaking on Sunrise Daily, a current affairs programme, on Channels Television on Tuesday,the Publisher Nigeria reports.
Reports have emerged claiming that the EFCC chairman was referring to the former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
A source in the EFCC told SaharaReporters that it was from Diezani that the commission recovered the $37.5 million real estate property.
“The chairman was referring to Diezani. We got the $37.5 million real estate property from her,” a top source said.
Recall that Bawa had said the EFCC investigated a female minister, who he said, bought $37.5m property from a bank and deposited $20m cash.
The commission chairman however did not disclose the identity of the suspect or whether she is a current or former minister.
Bawa said, “One of the problems we have in the country is the real estate. Ninety to 100 per cent of the resources are being laundered through the real estate. Of course, they are being regulated but they are not enough in terms of how they give their returns to the Special Control Unit.
“We investigated a matter in which a bank MD marketed a property to a minister and agreed to purchase it at $37.5m. The bank then sent a vehicle to her house to evacuate $20m from her house in the first instance.
“The bank succeeded to put it in their system and paid the developer and then a lawyer set up a special purpose vehicle where the title documents were transferred into and of course, he is posing as the owner of the house.
“Without the help of the banker, the minister couldn’t have imagined collecting $20m from anyone with opportunity from the real sector; she could not have thought of where to launder the proceeds of crime.”
Diezani has several cases of corruption, money laundering, and recoveries from her made by the anti-graft agency.
On May 28, the EFCC had said it seized jewelry worth N14 billion from the former Minister of Petroleum.
The EFCC Chairman revealed that the houses seized from the former Minister are valued at $80 million.
