EFCC Releases ₦5.7 Billion Out Of ₦7.9 Billion Seized From Okorocha To Imo State

[Edoman]

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has told a former Governor of Imo State and Senator representing Imo West Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator Rochas Okorocha, to get ready for his day in court.

Speaking at the commission’s zonal office in Port Harcourt, Rivers on Thursday, the Zonal Head, Usman Imam, said N7.9bn belonging to Imo was seized from the former governor during EFCC investigations.

Imam, who has been in charge of the ongoing probe of the former governor, said the commission returned over N5.7bn to various administrations in Imo to pay salaries and pensions of workers.

He said: “I started the Imo state case in Enugu and upon my deployment to this zone, the investigations of corruption allegations against the former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, was transfered from the Enugu zone to Port Harcourt for further investigations.

“Within the period, the commission succeeded in freezing about N7.9bn in different accounts. All the monies that were released to Imo State government were from the N7.9bn recovered from Okorocha. The monies were released in batches.

“N2.7bn was released in March for salaries. In the PDP government of Emeka Ihedioha, excess of N2.5bn upon series of writings and our insistence of monitoring it, was released to pay salaries and pensions because they were monies recovered from the state so it has to go back to the state.

Then the government of Emeka left and this government came, we had a remnant of the money in excess of N2bn. We were able to release N514milion just last month because excess of about N1.8bn is encumbered with a court process. Contractors went to court and targeted the funds. The process is lingering. They still have excess of N1.8bn that is not released”.

Apart from the money recovered from Okorocha, the EFCC zonal boss said the senator’s assets were also identified in Imo and Abuja and seized by the commission.

He said the commission filed a court process for interim forfeiture of the assets confiscated from Okorocha.

He said: “The investigation has got to an advanced stage and we are expecting that on conclusion, we are going to arraign the former governor.

“It is in the course of investigations that we targeted his assets. Some are in Imo, Owerri and some are in Abuja. We marked these properties in Abuja and we have filed court processes for interim forfeiture of these assets. The target is to conclude the investigations and he will have his day in court”.

Imam explained that since he assumed the leadership of the zone in January, the commission has recovered N291.8million, 847,983 US Dollars, 390 pounds, 10,900 Euros and 500 CFA.

He said the commission also froze over N1.1bn in the accounts of Bluekey Technologies allegedly operating a ponzi scheme and defrauding over 8,926 victims of over N4.4bn.

He said the EFFCC further secured interim forfeiture of 96 trucks, vessels and barges while 226 drums of automotive gas oil and 1million litres of suspected crude oil were finally forfeited to the Federal Government.

Imam explained that the son received 441 petitions, successfully investigated 262 with 159 awaiting legal advice and 20 others charged to court.

On the challenges of the commission, he said: “Fighting corruption comes with its peculiar challenges. The corrupt are not going to fold their hands while you retrieve what they had stolen. They would fight back.

“This has come in the form of sponsored media attacks. A blogger, one Dikeocha Chukwuebuka, who caused the zone serious blushes by posting fake pictures of purported overcrowded EFCC cell was arrested and currently under prosecution.

“Other challenges are non-cooperation,m and delayed response to this commission’s enquiries by some agencies; logistic challenge in investigating oil bunkering cases and inadequate office accommodation for staff”.

“In spite of the challenges, the zone remains committed to actualising the mandate of the commission, which is to eradicate corruption in Nigeria”.

https://thenationonlineng.net/efcc-releases-5-7bn-out-of-n7-9bn-seized-from-okorocha-to-imo/

[Edoman]

EFCC didn’t recover N7.9 Billion from me - Rochas Okorocha







Former Imo state Governor and Senator representing Imo West, Rochas Okorocha, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of transmitting false information against him, stating that no money was recovered from him by the anti-graft agency.
 
Senator Okorocha's denial comes after Mr Usman Imam , the Head of the Port Harcourt zone of the EFCC, stated during a press conference that he recovered  over N5.7 billion out of N7.9 billion in different bank accounts and assets belonging to the former Imo governor, while he was in charge of the Enugu branch of the commission.

Reacting to the report, Okorocha on Friday stated that the anti-graft agency never recovered N7.9 billion or any other amount of money from him. He also urged the EFCC to prove him wrong by publishing account details if the agency actually recovered money from him.
 
According to Rochas, the properties Usman said the EFCC allegedly acquired from him had been bought by him about 20 years ago.
 
Rochas in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Sam Onwuemeodo, said he would be expecting a retraction of the story and public apology from the EFCC in the coming days if they can't publish details of the N7.9 billion recovered from him.
 
The statement  reads: “The EFCC as a commission or Mr Usman Imam as a person and Head of Enugu zone then, and today, that of Port Harcourt Zone, of the commission, never recovered N7.9 billion or any other amount of money, from Rochas Okorocha

“With this denial, we therefore challenge EFCC or Mr. Imam as the one who made the claim, to prove us wrong by publishing details of the Bank Accounts the money was found and the owners of the accounts.
“We hold the EFCC and its personnel in a very high esteem. And we expect the commission or Mr. Imam to take our denial very serious, because Nigerians of goodwill would like to know who is saying the truth or who is lying.

“Where the commission finds out that it had misinformed the public and had also blackmailed the former Imo governor, perhaps unconsciously, we expect the commission or Mr. Imam to do the needful, which is to retract the media statement and then tell Nigerians the correct story. The N7.9 billion in question must be in bank Accounts. Let the EFCC publish the Accounts’ Details without delay”.

“Mr Imam talked about properties owned by Okorocha which the commission had marked. It is also important that Mr. Imam publish those properties because the properties marked had been acquired by Okorocha about twenty years ago. Since Mr. Imam has begun media trial, let the properties be also published for Nigerians to know the truth.

“We have repeatedly told this story, that before the 2019 election, the PDP elements in Imo had written to the EFCC, alleging that Okorocha had planned to use all the state funds to finance the election of his choice candidates. 

The EFCC, leveraging on the petitions, seized all the accounts of the state including the ones meant for the payment of salaries, pensions, severance allowances and so on. We have made this particular claim severally and the EFCC or any other interested person or persons have never faulted our claim.

“It has also been on the basis of these petitions written by the PDP government then led by Chief Emeka Ihedioha against Okorocha and the family, that the EFCC has been on the neck of Okorocha.

“Even after that Government had petitioned the commission and the commission acting on the petitions, the government also instituted more than twelve commissions and panels to probe Okorocha and family, on the same issues or items the EFCC is investigating.

“Some of the panels have submitted their reports to the current government in the state led by Governor Hope Uzodinma while others are still sitting and equally conducting media trials on Okorocha.

“Obviously, the EFCC has been misinformed. And the commission is using such misinformation to carry out media trial on Okorocha and in some cases, has even convicted him before the trial which Mr. Imam had talked about.

“We want to reiterate that EFCC has not recovered any money from Okorocha including the N7.9 billion claimed by Mr. Imam. And it is left for EFCC to prove us wrong. And if the commission discovers that our claim is the correct story, Mr. Imam should retract the media statement and tell the world the correct story”.
 
Okorocha was governor of Imo state from 2011 to 2019.

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