The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) has denied reports that its officials raided the home of Ex-Governor Ambode of Lagos State.
The Anti-graft agency on Tuesday 20th August, 2019, released a statement saying that it has been inundated with calls since early hours of Tuesday morning, that operatives of the Commission raided the residence of the former Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode.
The Commission denying the media reports on the alleged raid on the residence of Ex-Governor Ambode said:
“We need to state for the records that the EFCC did not raid Ambode’s house. It is instructive that his administration, like other former governors, is under investigation since they no longer constitutionally enjoy immunity against prosecution.
The Commission hereby states with a high sense of responsibility that the operatives did not raid Ambode’s residence”
In addition, the Commission confirmed that Ex-Governor Ambode is presently under investigation in line with the mandate of the commission and the rule of law, saying:
“We wish to inform the social media to be circumspect in the reportage of any news with regards to investigation activities of the Commission.
As a tradition, the Commission does not carry out the investigation on the pages of the newspapers or through the media. Our operations are always covert until at a time when we file charges in court.
Therefore, the attempt to cast the Commission in a bad light is unacceptable as the EFCC will never engage in an illegal act. We remain committed to the war against corruption” the commission stated.
The statement from EFCC comes after the commission released a statement saying it has secured a court order before Justice Chuka Obiozor of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos to freeze accounts linked to ex-governor Ambode, over an alleged N9.9 billion fraud.
According to EFCC, these three accounts linked to Ex-governor Ambode which allegedly had N9.9billion, are now left with just N300 million naira. The funds were said to have been domiciled in First City Monument Bank, FCMB, account number 5617984012; Access Bank account number 0060949275 and Zenith Bank account number 1011691254, respectively.
Justice Chuka Obiozor gave the order, following an ex-parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The EFCC had prayed the court to freeze the account pending the conclusion of the investigation and possible prosecution of Adewale Adesanya, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Chief of Staff to former ex-governor Ambode.
EFCC, in an affidavit deposed to by Kungmi Daniel, an operative of the Commission, stated that there was “a huge inflow of N9,927,714,443.29” from the state accounts into an FCMB bank account opened on September 17, 2018, during the administration of the immediate past governor of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode, and operated by Adesanya.
It was further stated that the schedule of the FCMB account showed how Adesanya and other signatories to the account made a fraudulent transfer from the accounts of the Lagos State Government and dissipated the funds housed in the said accounts.
In his submission, counsel to the EFCC, Mohammed Abbas, said: “The trend in the account is that the account always witnessed huge inflow from Lagos State Government in the above-scheduled accounts managed by the respondent (Adesanya)”.
Abbas, therefore, prayed the court to grant an order to temporarily attach and take over the accounts to enable it to conclude its investigations.
“There have been concerted efforts and attempts to dissipate the contents of the accounts listed in the schedule to this application“. EFCC had stated.