The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, seeks to freeze the First City Monument Bank, FCMB’s Operational Account of the Bauchi State government to allow for an investigation of a money laundering case in which the account featured prominently.
The EFCC, through its Counsel, Abubakar Aliyu, in an Exparte Order with file number: FHC/ABJ/CS/858/2019, sought the order of the court to freeze the account pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation by the commission.
According to him, many non-existent companies were used to transfer funds from the account.
These transfers were believed to have been done by the immediate-past governor of the state, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar.
The EFCC’s counsel said: “My Lord, about N19.8 billion cheques were raised on the eve of transferring power to the new government for purportedly non-existent contracts and other grants,” he said.
He told Justice Taiwo that the amount was beyond the N11 billion in the account.
According to him, the Accountant General is still a signatory to the account and they are still trying to access the money.
When the judge asked if freezing the FCMB account would not affect the operation of the state government, Mr Aliyu said the action would not affect the government’s operation because the account was not the one linked to Federal Account Allocation Committee, FAAC.
”They have other accounts and we have tagged this as exhibit 22 and 23,” he said.
Responding to the judge’s question on how long the investigation would take, the council said: ”My Lord, investigation is like a pregnant activity. If My Lord will give us 21 days, we will be grateful.”
”I have patiently listened to the counsel’s prayer. I, therefore, grant the order sought by the applicant as prayed.
”Meanwhile, the parties concern must be put on notice within 21 days of the order of this court,” Justice Taiwo held.
In the suit filed, the EFCC had claimed that the immediate-past government in the state was involved in money laundering for which it deployed the account.
The EFCC stated that it needed to have the account frozen to preserve the funds being held in it.
An official of the EFCC, Yakubu Sani, stated in a supporting affidavit that “it is a fact that between the 24th and 28th day of May 2019, the applicant received intelligence that the then outgoing government in Bauchi State initiated a process at overdrawing to launder the sum of N19,897,809,334.08 property at Bauchi State Government.
Source: Daily Nigerian
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