Former Kwara State governor and senator
representing Kwara Central in the National Assembly, Dr Bukola Saraki,
is to appear before a crack team of investigators of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over
his alleged involvement in fraud-related matters during his eight-year
period as governor and his time as executive director of the defunct
Societe Generale Bank Nigeria Limited (SGBN).
A dependable source
confided in LEADERSHIP last night that the ex-governor has been invited
by the EFCC and is due to appear before the anti-graft crack team on
Wednesday at the Idiagbon House, base of the operations arm of the EFCC
at its headquarters in Abuja.
Though the identities of members of
the investigating team remain cloudy at press time, LEADERSHIP gathered
that the team may be led by an assistant commissioner of police who is
dreaded for his reputation as a consummate fraud buster.
It was also
learnt that the EFCC had compiled a dossier on the ex- governor that
contains several allegations of fraud that borders on abuse of office
and money laundering which the ant-graft body had covertly investigated
over the past few years.
Based on these findings, the
commission, LEADERSHIP gathered, is now ready to confront the
ex-governor with the evidence of his alleged financial indiscretion both
as governor and as the executive director of SGBN.
The EFCC is said
to have concluded the investigation into the mega fraud that triggered
the collapse of the SGBN years ago but could not move against Saraki in
spite of the overwhelming evidence against him on the grounds of the
immunity he enjoyed as a sitting governor. Saraki ruled Kwara State
between 2003 and 2011.
In the twilight of his tenure, Saraki became a
powerful political figure as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’
Forum (NGF). His name featured prominently in the high-wire game of
intrigues that allegedly forced the pioneer former chairman of the EFCC,
Mr Nuhu Ribadu, out of the commission and ultimately into exile, after
he moved against the former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who
is now serving a jail term in a United Kingdom prison for money
laundering offences.
Source: Leadership

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