How Agbele Allegedly Bought N1.3bn Houses For Fayose – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has made a breakthrough in the alleged corruption case against Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and his associate, Mr. Abiodun Agbele who is currently in EFCC custody. Agbele was said to have received N1.219bn from a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, on behalf of Fayose, in June 2014.

An investigator said that Fayose used Agbele to buy the two houses in Abuja, using bank loans from Skye Bank and Zenith Bank on the surface in a way that would make the source of the money look legitimate. However, the stolen money was used in offsetting the bank loans.

The detective said, “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 source said, “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.”

“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.

Dasukigate: EFCC Quizzes Former SGF, Olu Falae

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has picked up and quizzed Chief Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, over his alleged role in the $15bn arms scandal.

According to an investigator who spoke to PUNCH newspaper, Falae was quizzed for hours by investigators at the commission’s office on Thursday before being allowed to go home on the condition that he would return in the next two weeks.

A detective said, “Chief Falae came to our office based on an invitation. He told us the story of how he received N100m based on the instruction of Anenih. However, our investigations revealed that Falae only transferred N60m to his party, SDP.

“The remaining N40m was personally withdrawn by him, which means it was not used for campaign. When he was confronted, he started appealing to us that he did not want to be detained or taken to court, so we told him to go and bring the N40m first.

ARMS SCANDAL REPORT NOT DOCTORED – FG

The Federal Government in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday denied insinuations that the report of the Presidential Committee on the Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in the Armed Forces (2007-2015) was doctored for whatever reason.

Speaking through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Federal Government said what has been released so far is the report of the audit covering the period 2011 to 2015, adding that the Committee would commence the audit of procurement from 2007 to 2010 as soon as the necessary documents are available.

''When the documents regarding procurement from 2007 to 2010 are available and scrutinized, the committee will then issue its report on that. The audit is being done on phases, and the report that was released on Thursday is the third of such,'' the Minister said.

''No one should attempt to distract from the seriousness of the issues involved in this audit of defence equipment procurement. It is important to note that even though the total amount spent for procurement and operations within the period were N185,843,052,564.30 and $685,349,692.49, the irregularities in the awards ensured that the military did not get value for money, with very serious consequences,'' the Minister said.

ARMSGATE: COURT FILES FRESH CHARGES AGAINST METUH, SEEKS DISCHARGE

The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh was Wednesday re-arraigned ‎before a Federal High Court in Abuja on a fresh seven counts charge of alleged corruption.