Following a petition it received, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions is set to begin a probe of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Lamorde, over an allegation that he diverted over N1 trillion being proceeds of corruption recovered by the agency.
EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde
According to a report by Punch newspaper, the agency had diverted loots recovered from former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha; and ex-Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun.
The petitioner, Mr. George Uboh, who has been invited to appear before the Senate committee by 10am on Wednesday, said “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 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; 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 and 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.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, in a telephone chat with Punch denied knowledge of the petition.
“I am not aware of it (the petition)” he said.
A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has revealed that most national investments are done with money gotten through illegal means.
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