Priscilla Maakuna
According to a report by the presidential panel which investigated Ibrahim Magu, the former acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), abandoned about 14 fraud cases which totals #118 billion and $309 million.
The panel which was formed to investigate the EFCC from May 2015 to May 2020, the period when Magu was in charge led by the former Supreme Court President, Ayo Salami.
Magu’s regime as the chairman of EFCC was alleged of not remitting #48 billion loot discovered in local and foreign currencies, based on the report submitted to the President, Muhammadu Buhari in November, 2020.
The report has been submitted to the office of the secretary of the federation’s government, meanwhile a panel for the creation of white paper will soon be formed.
The report further alleged Magu of misappropriation of the recovered loot, while selling off seized properties to associates. Over 100 witnesses’ written and oral testimonies were examined by the report, whilst a nationwide physical verification of recovered forgone properties, like, real estate, automobiles, vessels and other non-cash and cash assets.
Based on an examination of the report of the Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets (PCARA), contradictory figures on the total number of recovered real estate were obtained the anti-graft commission.
The EFCC reported that “N46,038,882,509.87 as being the foreign currency equivalent was recovered by the commission between May 29, 2015, and November 22, 2018, under the watch of the suspended Ag. Chairman in its submission to PCARA” the report stated.
The panel also claimed that the former chairman abandoned fraud cases of multi-million dollar which involved high-profile individuals while transferring other commission officials who were involved in investigating the cases. He was further accused of refusal to adhere to court orders and presidential directives.