EFCC questions ex-NNPC chiefs

Firstclass newsline gathered that anti-graft investigators with the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are currently interrogating a
former managing director of one of the subsidiaries of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation and three former executive directors of
the oil corporation under ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The four are said to be under investigation by officials of the
Subsidy Unit of the EFCC and their counterparts from the National
Crime Agency of the United Kingdom in relation to the former
minister's case.
Firstclass newsline on Sunday that the ex-NNPC MD and the three former
EDs had already been directed to be reporting to investigators.
The four were said to be "very close" to Alison-Madueke while in office.
An EFCC source said the ex-minister might appear in court on Monday (today).
"The man has been sacked now. He has been reporting to the EFCC since.
Even three former executive directors are also reporting to the EFCC
to tell the agency what they know about the NNPC funds," a top
official of the anti-graft agency said.
Check however indicated that the former MD being investigated was not
among the oil barons that were picked up in the UK for alleged
complicity in the money laundering case against the former minister.
Firstclass newsline gathered that security agents were also probing
an estranged ally of the former minister and two others in the UK.
The UK authorities have been keeping the identities of the affected
people in line with their practice of keeping the identities of those
arrested until they are taken to court.
The source could not get the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC,
Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, on Sunday as calls to his mobile telephone line
indicated that it had been switched off.
But a top operative of the EFCC said on Sunday that the EFCC
investigation into the activities of the NNPC was not just about
Alison-Madueke.
The source said that more people could be grilled in relation to the
probe of the corporation.
The source added that the UK Police, which had been monitoring the
former minister for close to two years, had "something substantial"
before moving against her.
Meanwhile, a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji
Abubakar Tsav, while speaking on the recent arrest and bail of
Alison-Madueke, dismissed insinuations that the President Muhammadu
Buhari administration was out to settle political scores.
Tsav, who spoke on the telephone with a source , noted that the former
minister lived like she was above the law.
Tsav cited Alison Madueke's refusal to appear before the National
Assembly to answer charges of malfeasance levelled against her as
evidence of her "arrogance" and disdain for the legislature and the
country's laws.
He said, "When (ex-President Goodluck) Jonathan was still in power,
the National Assembly invited her several times to answer questions on
some of these issues but she never honoured any of the invitations.
"Even when the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, now
Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, made the allegations that US$20bn was not
accounted for; she refused to appear before the National Assembly."
Tsav said Nigeria had had the privilege of having credible women such
as Gambo Sawaba, Margaret Ekpo and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who fought
for the good of society and wondered why it had become increasingly
difficult to replicate their outstanding performances.
He described as embarrassing the fact that Nigeria still depended
almost completely on the British police and its criminal justice
system to bring our corrupt public officials to book, 55 years after
our independence.
According to him, corruption is more than anything else responsible
for the inability of our criminal justice system and our anti-graft
agencies to act decisively over the past few years.
Tsav said, "Our anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria are not effective,
apparently because there is too much political interference.
"In the case of (ex-Delta State Governor James) Ibori for instance,
they found him not guilty in Nigeria but he was arrested, prosecuted
and convicted in the UK.
"These agencies are either corrupt themselves or their activities are
being interfered with by politicians. But I would rather believe that
they themselves are corrupt and they are not willing to perform their
duties very well."
Firstclassnewsline.net