Paris Club Loan Refund: EFCC Links N19bn To Seven Governors
By Oladapo Okeowo
The ongoing investigation of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over their disbursement of the N388.304billion Paris Club loan refund seems to be bearing fruit.
According to The Nation, the EFCC has uncovered evidence of funds diversion into two bank accounts opened by the NGF.
N19 billion was found in one of the two accounts while the other is a domiciliary account with a yet unspecified sum of money.
Seven members of the Forum have been invited for questioning in relation to the allegations.
Preliminary reports on the refund management state that one of the interrogated admitted handing over a large sum of money to an officer of the National Assembly.
According to a source, EFCC detectives discovered that 3% of the funds was shared by some governors under “curious circumstances” while about 2% was paid to consultants who were themselves nominated by the governors.
The source said: “The detectives have uncovered the two accounts opened in the name of the NGF and the signatories to same.
“We are looking into circumstances behind such huge deposits from London-Paris Club refunds into these accounts.
“The payment of 2% of the refunds to consultants and 3% to some governors which was rated as “curious” by investigators have been confirmed. We also discovered that some of the governors nominated these consultants.”
The names of the governors were not given.
The source reiterated that the EFCC has no ulterior motive nor agenda against the NGF.
He said though the Governors have immunity, the same cannot be said of the Forum. The EFCC investigation is to check the financial propriety or not of what informed the transfer of the funds into accounts run by the NGF.
