EFCC recovers N553m stolen funds from S’East politicians in 7 months
In continuation of ongoing review of regional performances by geo-political zones, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), South East zone stationed at Enugu, on Tuesday, revealed that it recovered N553.77million from corrupt politicians in the South East in the seven months of investigative operations and recovery of stolen funds.
According to the Zonal Head of Operations of the commission, Mr. Johnson Babalola, “Within the period, we received a total of 503 petitions from Nigerians out of which 333 were approved for investigation while others not under the purview of the EFCC were referred to sister agencies”.
Bulk of the recovered public funds were part of the public funds the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) illegally appropriated to itself to prosecute the 2015 general elections in the zone.
Babalola revealed further that the commission recovered N300 million, N82.5 million and N60 million from chieftains of the party in Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu States respectively, hinting that “We have recovered N300 million out of N400 million in Ebonyi. In Abia, we recovered N82.5 million out of N450 million while we got N60 million in Enugu out of N450 million”.
“However, we are facing some challenges in Anambra and Imo but the commission is working on them,” he said.
The head of EFCC operations in the South East made it clear that “the commission had resolved to prosecute all staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Imo, Anambra and Enugu found culpable as soon as the courts resumed from vacation”.
It would be recalled that on Monday, Business Hilights had reported the performance of the Ibadan Zone, where over 100 internet fraudsters were apprehended by the anti-graft agency within the period under review.
