The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission has submitted a report to President Muhammadu Buhari linking
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and some of his aides to the diversion
of about N19bn from the N522bn Paris Club refund.
The report also fingered Mr. Robert Mbonu of Melrose General Services Limited.
Mbonu
is a former Managing Director of Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, the
commercial bank owned by the Saraki family which was later liquidated.
The
Federal Government had, in December 2016, approved the sum of N522.74bn
to be paid to the 36 states of the federation as part of the
reimbursement of the over-deduction on the Paris Club loan from 1995 to
2002.
The EFCC had sometimes in January discovered that the loan
refunds were illegally routed through the account of the Nigeria
Governors Forum by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Upon receiving
the funds, the NGF, in an alleged connivance with Saraki, began
remitting huge sums to private consultants who then laundered about
N19bn.
According to the report, apart from the NGF, others under
investigation include the Relationship Manager to the Senate President
in Access Bank, Kathleen Erhimu.
Some others under probe and
identified as Saraki’s aides include Obiora Amobi, Gbenga Makanjuola,
Kolawole Shittu and Oladapo Idowu.
The report alleges that sometimes in December, Saraki introduced the ex-bank MD, Mbonu, to Erhimu.
Others at the meeting were Saraki’s aforementioned aides.
It
added that sequel to the meeting, the sum of N3.5bn was lodged into
Melrose General Services Company account number 0005892453, domiciled in
Access Bank from the Nigeria Governors Forum on December 14.
The
report stated that two of Saraki’s aides, Obiora Amobi and Gbenga
Makanjuola, were introduced to Access Bank as representatives of Melrose
General Services Limited by Mbonu to enable them to make cash
withdrawals from the account.
It added that Amobi and Makanjuola made cash withdrawals in various tranches of N5m and N10m.
The
report reads in part, “Based on the foregoing findings, it is clear
that Robert Mbonu, the Managing Director of Melrose General Services
Company and his company were used to help divert proceeds of unlawful
activities under the guise of payment for contractual obligations with
the Nigeria Governors Forum.
“Suffice to apprise that all
payments received by Melrose General Services Company from the NGF have
hitherto been diverted directly via cash withdrawals and indirectly
through transfers by Gbenga Peter Makanjuola, Kolawole Shittu and
Oladapo Joseph Idowu, who are principal aides to the Senate President.
“Furthermore,
other payments from Melrose General Services Company have also been
linked to companies that Dr. Bukola Saraki has interest in and carries
out transactions with.
“This includes the sum of $183,000, which
was transferred to Bhaska Devji Jewellers, Dubai, a company Dr. Bukola
Saraki had repeatedly made payments to.
“Also, the sum of N200m
was transferred to Wasp Networks Limited that subsequently transferred
the sum of N170m to Xtract Energy Services Limited, a company that
routinely made deposits into Dr. Saraki’s Access Bank US Dollar
Domiciliary account.”
The report concludes that a prima facie
case of conspiracy to retain the proceeds of unlawful activities and
money laundering, contrary to sections 15(3) and 18(9) of the Money
Laundering Prohibition Act 2004, could be established against the
aforementioned suspects.
“Additionally, investigation into their personal accounts is ongoing,” it adds.
When
contacted, the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, who spoke on behalf of Saraki, said he
would not react except he sighted the report.
“Send the report to
me and I will be able to read it and contact the necessary people. If I
don’t see the report, I cannot react to it in abstract. Send me the
report if you want our reaction,” he said.
The spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed that investigations were ongoing into the Paris Club scam.
He, however, said he did not know the specifics of the investigations.
“I can only confirm that there are investigations but I don’t have details,” Uwujaren said.
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