- Swoops on agency’s hqrs, arrests 20 senior staff
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested no fewer than 20 top management staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, The Point has learnt.
Twice within this week, operatives of the anti-graft body were said to have stormed the Apapa, Lagos headquarters of NIMASA to pick up the affected senior officials of the agency.
Our correspondent gathered that in the course of its preliminary investigation, the EFCC also stumbled on a whopping sum of N1.9billion in the bank account of one of the arrested NIMASA officials, who is on level nine.
The first raid on NIMASA’s headquarters was carried out on Monday, while the EFCC operatives returned to the offices of the agency on Wednesday to make further arrests, after releasing three of the officials arrested two days earlier.
Sources at the agency’s office disclosed that EFCC operatives arrived at the Apapa office of NIMASA at about 11:45am on Wednesday in company with one of the top female officials (names withheld) of the maritime body’s Accounts Department.
It was learnt that the female official had been in EFCC custody since Monday and was only taken back to NIMASA office in furtherance of the anti-graft body’s investigation of the alleged fraud in the organisation.
A very reliable source at the anti-graft agency’s office in Lagos told our correspondent that the arrest of the top officials was in continuation of EFCC’s on-going investigations at the maritime body.
“One of the officials is a level nine officer, but you would be shocked of how much was discovered in his private bank account, a sum of N1.9billion,” he said.
The source stated that large sums of money were also discovered in the various bank accounts belonging to the other 19 NIMASA officials, adding, “So we have ordered that their accounts be flagged for security reasons, until after the investigations, and the banks have obliged us that.”
The EFCC source, however, declined to mention the names of the affected officers, saying, “We want to avoid name calling at this stage, but if you go to NIMASA, and have your source there, they should be able to tell you their names.”
He further disclosed that apart from the NIMASA officials looting the agency, the EFCC had also discovered that some retired senior military officers had been involved in the fraud at the maritime body.
The EFCC source said that the anti-graft agency already had some documents in its possession containing the names of the retired generals involved in the NIMASA fraud, adding, “Very soon we would start picking up retired senior Army and Naval officers.
They would have to come and clear the air on some of the money they collected.” The anti-graft agency had arraigned the former acting Director-General of NIMASA, Haruna Baba Jauro, over allegations of fraud before a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The EFCC source, however, stated that there was still a lot of work to be done at NIMASA. “Let me tell you; by the time we finish our work there, half of the staff would be in jail,” he said.
Jauro was dragged to court, along with his brother in-law, Dr. Dauda Bistrus Bawa, and his company, Thlumbau Enterprises Limited, on a 19-count charge of stealing and money laundering. It was learnt that Jauro was arrested by the EFCC, based on its findings during the investigation of his predecessor, Patrick Akpobolokemi.
It was further gathered that during the course of investigation, it was discovered that the former NIMASA acting DG, while serving as the Executive Director, Finance of the agency, received the sum of N156, 477, 500 as gratification from Akpobolokemi to allow the former DG and his cohorts to embezzle large sums of money from the agency.
The said funds were traced to Jauro’s company’s account at Thlumbau Enterprises Limited, which his brotherin-law, the second accused person presides over. Jauro was said to have refunded N35, 000,000, being part of the money he collected from Akpobolokemi to the Federal Government.
Efforts to get official confirmation of this development was not successful, as the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwugiaren; and NIMASA’s Hajia Lami Tumaka, did not pick calls made to their phones. Text messages forwarded to both Uwugiaren and Tumaka were also not replied as at the time of filing this report.
