– The EFCC has revealed further
secrets regarding Governor
Fayose’s alleged involvement in
fraud
– Governor Fayose and his
associate Abiodun Agbele are said
to have fraudulently bought
houses worth N1.3billion
– The antigraft agency says the
recent finding is a major
breakthrough into the case
against the governor
– EFCC says some of the money
used for the frivolous purchases
were from the controversial
Dasuki Funds
Governor Ayodele Fayose might be
in some more messy situation with
regards to the allegation leveled
against him by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC).
EFCC claims to have made a
breakthrough in the case against
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti
state.
The EFCC says it has made a
headway in the alleged corruption
case against the Ekiti state
governor and his associate, Abiodun
Agbele.
Agbele is currently in the EFCC
net, he is said to have received
N1.219bn from a former Minister of
State for Defence, Musiliu
Obanikoro.
The funds were received on behalf
of Fayose during the build-up to
the Ekiti governorship election in
June 2014.
Detectives of the EFCC allege that
Fayose used a large portion of the
N1.219bn along with some money
from the Ekiti state coffers to buy
houses in Lagos and Abuja which
have since been seized by the anti-
graft agency.
The Punch reports that Fayose
used Agbele to buy the houses in a
way that the source of the money
would look legitimate.
An undisclosed source reported
that the two houses in Abuja were
bought with bank loans on the
surface. However, the stolen money
was used in offsetting the bank
loans.
“From the Dasuki funds, they had
about N300m stashed in one
account. However, when they were
going to buy the N270m property
located on Yedseram Street, they did
not use the N300m from the stolen
funds. Rather, they obtained a loan
of N120m in the name of Spotless
Hotel from Zenith Bank to deposit for
the house.
“They then took about N150m out of
the Dasuki money to pay the balance
on the house and then used the
same Dasuki funds to offset the loan.
They went through all this stress to
cover their tracks and make it look
as if it was a bank loan they used in
buying the property.
“Why did they take a loan that would
be gathering interest when they had
more than enough money to buy the
house?”
The investigator said when it was
time to buy the four duplexes in
Lagos, Fayose and Agbele allegedly
overpaid the seller of the houses
and then told the seller to use the
balance which was N200m, to pay
for another house in Abuja.
“The worth of the four duplexes in
Lagos is N1.1bn which was sold by
Still Earth Nigeria Ltd. However,
Fayose and Agbele paid Still Earth
N1.3bn in cash and then told the
company to transfer the balance of
N200m to Skye Bank. It was that
N200m that was used in purchasing
the building at 44 Osun River
Crescent, Abuja. This was done so
that no one would be able to trace
the fund to them.”
Meanwhile, the anti-graft agency
has also traced about N60m to an
account belonging to Agbele.
The account titled, BYKD
Consultant Limited, which is
domiciled in a new generation bank,
received some funds from Ekiti
state local governments under the
heading, ‘Millennium Development
Goals’.
A copy of the statement of
account sighted by our
correspondent showed that on
February 18, 2015, about N18, 159,
050 was paid into the account. On
the same day, about N15, 319, 650
was paid into the same account
while about N11, 238, 500 was
deposited into the account on the
same day among other transactions.
The transaction history showed that
Agbele paid about N40m and N15m
into the account of Affordable
Motors.
“This is a new discovery and we
want to know why such funds would
be released by local governments
because so far there is no evidence
of any contract between the local
government and Agbele,” the source
said.
In a similar development, Justice
Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High
Court in Abuja, yesterday, July 18,
granted bail to the Managing
Director of Almond Projects
Limited, Gbenga Obadina to the
tune of N500million.
Obadina is answering to an eight-
count criminal charge the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, preferred against him.
He was alleged to have received
over N2.4 billion from the former
National Security Adviser (NSA), Col
Sambo Dasuki (rtd), without any
contract award or execution.
The anti-graft agency told the
court that the defendant collected
the sum of N2.417bn through his
company’s bank account from
Dasuki in tranches between 2013
and 2015.
Meanwhile, the defendant, who was
arraigned alongside his company,
Almond Projects Limited, last
Friday, pleaded not guilty to the
charge, even as trial Justice
Dimgba okayed his remand at Kuje
Prison.
The court, thereafter, adjourned to
decide whether or not he should be
released on bail, pending the
determination of the case against
him. Ruling on the bail application,
Justice Dimgba ordered the
defendant to produce two sureties
that must deposit the sum of N250
million each.
The court stressed that the
sureties must be owners of landed
property in Asokoro, Maitama, Apo
Legislators Quarters, Wuse II
Abuja or Victoria Island in Lagos.
It said the defendant was at
liberty to produce a civil servant
not below the rank of a Director,
private businessmen or
professionals to stand surety for
him.
Besides, the court ordered that the
sureties must produce evidence of
their income tax for the past five
years, just as it directed the
defendant to surrender his
international passport to the
Deputy Chief Registrar of the high
court. It further warned the
defendant not to travel out of
jurisdiction without permission.
The Vanguard reports that the
Judge said he was minded to grant
the bail request the defendant
made through his counsel, Chief
Chris Uche, SAN, considering that
the EFCC failed to adduce cogent
reasons why he should not be
released from detention.
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