The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had commenced the probing 50 bank accounts as it recovered N30bn in the alleged scandals in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, who disclosed this in an interview published in the March edition of EFCC Alert, an in-house magazine of the anti-graft agency, also.
The chairman called for special courts for corruption cases.
Olukoyode, in the publication obtained by on Monday, said the recovered fund was in the Federal Government’s coffers.
The EFCC is currently investigating alleged scandals in the humanitarian affairs ministry involving the suspended minister, Betta Edu, her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, and Ms Halima Shehu, the National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme, an agency under the humanitarian ministry,
In January, Edu was suspended by President Bola Tinubu following an alleged fraud in her ministry.
Giving an update on the probe, the EFCC chairman stated, “We have laws and regulations guiding our investigations. Nigerians will also know that they (Edu and Shehu) are already on suspension and this is based on the investigations we have done, and President Bola Tinubu has proved to Nigerians that he is ready to fight corruption.
“Moreover, with respect to this particular case, we have recovered over N30bn, which is already in the coffers of the Federal Government.
“It takes time to conclude investigations. We started this matter less than six weeks ago. There are cases that take years to investigate. There are so many angles to it, and we need to follow through with some of the discoveries that we have seen. Nigerians should give us time on this matter; we have professionals on this case and they need to do things right. There are so many leads here and there.
“As it is now, we are investigating over 50 bank accounts that we have traced money into. That is no child’s play. That’s a big deal. Then you ask about my staff strength.”
Explaining why the probe would take time, Olukoyede stated, “And again, we have thousands of other cases that we are working on. Nigerians have seen the impact of what we have done so far, by way of some people being placed on suspension and by way of the recoveries that we have made. You have seen that the programme itself has been suspended. We are exploring so many discoveries that we have stumbled upon in our investigation.
“If it is about seeing people in jail, well let them wait, everything has a process to follow. So Nigerians should wait and give us the benefit of the doubt.”
