Gist Coven

According to Yakubu Galadima, the lawyer of the whistle-blower who informed EFCC of the $43m, N23.2m and £27,800 (N13bn) recovered from an apartment in Ikoyi, his client will not accept anything less than the 5% commission he was promised by the gov't. Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, the Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, at an event on Thursday titled, ‘Tracking Noxious Funds’, which was organised by Kent University Law School and Human and Environmental Development Agency, had said any whistle-blower, who helped the government recover funds over N1bn would receive less than five per cent commission. Owasanoye, who was part of the team that drafted the whistle-blower policy had previously said: “If you blow the whistle and the government recovers cash, you are entitled to between 2.5 per cent and five per cent. He continued: “If you blow the whistle and the government recovers cash, you are entitled to between 2.5 per cent and five per cent....

An investigation into the alleged disappearance of assets seized by the Abdulrasheed Maina-led Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms has been opened by the Senate. They had reportedly been kept in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The upper legislative chamber took the decision following the adoption of a motion by Senator Emmanuel Paulker (PDP, Bayelsa State). Paulker, chairman of the committee investigating the botched reinstatement and promotion of Maina, alleged that the top echelon of the EFCC and others shared some 270 properties that included exotic houses and hotels. The senator said his committee got wind of the matter following submissions by government officials connected with the reinstatement saga. Consequently, he requested the Senate to expand the scope of the committee’s investigation, with a view to unveiling persons involved in the scandal. “For this alarming revelation, sir, this committee requests the Senate to e...

Former Chairman of the Presidential Pension Reform Team (PPRT) Abdurasheed Maina has challenges the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to an open debate on the issue of pension funds in the country. Maina who spoke through his lawyer, Sani Katu, in Kadun, said, “Let’s meet at an open panel of investigation if the EFCC is truly straightforward. We urge the government to appoint an independent panel of investigation and see who will run out of Nigeria.” The fugitive Maina who still insists that he is innocent of the allegations against him, said instead, it is the federal government that owes him money based on its whistle blower policy, since he helped recover stolen public funds. He said, “In 2011, we stopped the stealing of N300 million daily from police pension. Also, in 2011, we stopped the stealing of N1.04 billion monthly from police pension allocations. “Same 2011, we were able to stop the yearly stealing of N52.5 billion, which has been an annual ritual a...

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has confirmed the arrest of Anyim Pius Anyim, a former secretary to the government of the Federation. Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the commission, said on Friday, November 17, that Anyim was being held over an “ongoing investigation.” The former Senate president was still at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja as at press time. Report said that Anyim was being questioned for his role in the alleged mismanagement of ecological fund while in office as SGF, among other matters, our source said. While serving as SGF in 2012, Anyim was linked to shortfalls of about N396 billion in the Ecological Funds deductions. Subsequently, he was invited by the Senate Committee on Special Duties and House Committee on Environment to provide details of how money for the Ecological Fund office was spent but he never showed up in any of the committees.