BREAKING NEWS, Crime
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Ibrahim Lamorde, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has a date with the Senate committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to answer allegations of diversion of N1trillion of government funds
IBRAHIM Lamorde, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is expected to appear before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions will on Wednesday, August 26, in connection with an allegation that he fraudulently diverted over N1trillion proceeds of corruption recovered by the anti-graft agency.
Part of the money alleged to have been diverted by Lamorde included the loot recovered from a former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State; and Tafa Balogun, former inspector-general of Police.
George Uboh, the petitioner, who engineered the probe and Lamorde, would also appear before the Senate committee at the Senate Building, National Assembly Complex, Abuja, on Wednesday morning.
According to Uboh, Larmode’s corrupt activities dated back to his days as the director of operations of the EFCC between 2003 and 2007, and when acting chairman of the commission between June 2007 and May 2008, following the departure of Nuhu Ribadu, the then chairman of the anti-graft agency, for a course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.
Uboh, chief executive officer of Panic Alert Security Systems, a security firm, in his petition dated July 31, 2015, accused Lamorde of some specific instances of under-remittance and non-disclosure of proceeds of corruption recovered from criminal suspects, including Balogun and Alamieyeseigha.
In the 10-count fraud allegations, addressed to Buola Saraki, Senate president and sent through Peter Nwaoboshi, a senator from Delta State, Uboh said Lamorde should be prosecuted for corruption and gross abuse of office.
The petitioner alleged that Lamorde in March 2013 diverted the sum of N779m out of the total N3bn forfeited by Balogun to the Federal Government and that the EFCC boss conspired with some officials of the anti-graft agency to under-remit the ex-IG’s forfeited funds of about N5.85bn into the Consolidated Revenue Account by holding back about N2.65bn.
Uboh also alleged that Lamorde conspired with some EFCC officials to remit to Bayelsa State the sum of N3.1bn instead of the total sum of N4.3bn proceeds of corruption recovered from Alamieyeseigha.
Besides, the petitioner alleged that Lamorde, as director of operations of the EFCC, conspired with some officers of the commission to manipulate records of assets recovered from Alamieyeseigha, an act which allegedly paved the way for him to trade with about N3.7bn of the recovered funds for almost two years.
Uboh’s petition said in part: “Sir, the aggregate funds diverted by Lamorde/EFCC stated below in the attached criminal charges is over N1tn. However, because over 95 percent of overseas seizures are diverted, there is an urgent need to investigate and recover those funds as well.”
The petitioner assured the Senate that he would produce “overwhelming evidence” to back his claims against the anti-graft boss.
Uboh also alleged that the EFCC had not accounted for “offshore recoveries” and that “over half of the assets seized from suspects are not reflected in EFCC exhibit records.”
He also accused Lamorde of conspiring with some EFCC officers and external auditors “to operate and conceal a recovery account in the Central Bank of Nigeria and excluded the balances from your audited financial statements between 2005 and 2011.”
“Lamorde continues to conceal the details of the unsold properties forfeited by both Tafa Balogun and DSP Alamieyeseigha despite receiving rent revenues from some estate agents on the said properties,” Uboh further alleged.
Based on the petition, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions’ in a letter signed by Freedom Osolo, clerk of the committee, invited Uboh to the Wednesday’s meeting.
The letter of invitation entitled, ‘Invitation to a meeting of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions’, partly read: “I am directed to invite you to a meeting of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions of the National Assembly in respect of your petition (copy attached) against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde.
“You are by this invitation, required to appear before the committee with all necessary evidence to support your allegation.”
Alamieyeseigha, whom former President Goodluck Jonathan, succeeded as Bayelsa State governor in 2005, had forfeited property and funds in various bank accounts as part of terms of plea bargain in his trial by the EFCC.
He had pleaded guilty to six counts of corruption charges before a federal high court in Lagos on July 26, 2007 and served concurrent two years imprisonment on each count. He was later pardoned by Jonathan in 2013.
Balogun had also forfeited landed assets and funds and was sentenced to six months imprisonment by a federal high court in Abuja after he pleaded guilty to various counts of corruption charges.
When contacted, Wilson Uwujaren, spokesperson of the EFCC, simply said he was not aware of the petition.
— Aug 24, 2015 @ 12:10 GMT
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