We recovered $153m, 80 houses from Diezani – EFCC

ABOUT $153 million and 80 units of exotic houses in choice locations of Abuja and Lagos have been recovered from former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

  The properties are valued at over $80million apart from the caches of cash found at her homes.

  Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, disclosed this in the April edition of an in-house publication of the anti-graft agency, EFCC Alert.

  According to Bawa, although EFCC is yet to bring Diezani to justice, the agency is not relenting in the fight against graft no matter whose ox is gored.

  “Although we are still to bring the former minister to justice, we won’t relent no matter the hurdles on the way. There are several cases surrounding Diezani’s case. I was part of that investigation, and we have done quite a lot. In one of the cases, we recovered $153 million; we have secured the final forfeiture of over 80 properties in Nigeria valued at about $80 million. We have done quite a bit on that.

The other case as it relates to the $115 million INEC bribery is also ongoing across the federation. We are looking forward to the time we will, maybe, have her in the country, and, of course, review things and see what will happen going forward. The case has certainly not been abandoned,” he said.

  But responding to a question as to how he would be dealing with powerful government officials in the discharge of his assignment as EFCC chairman, Bawa said he would be ready to leave the job if anyone tried to make him do what was illegal.

  “I am not going to pay allegiance to individuals in the government. I rose through the ranks. The only job I know after graduation is the EFCC, which I joined in 2004. I rose through the ranks from an ordinary team member to the first EFCC team leader from the regular staff of the EFCC. I became a sectional head, became the zonal head in Ibadan, zonal head in Port Harcourt, and zonal head in Lagos.

Lagos is the biggest operational hub of the EFCC with over 600 personnel. Port Harcourt is next to it in terms of complexity and staff strength. I happen to be the first EFCC regular staff to head three different zones before my appointment as the chairman. So, you see I know the roads,” he said.

It will be recalled that Diezani has been living in Britain since leaving office.