N15bn ‘Ikoyi money’: Magu tenders evidence before panel

The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, Friday, tendered evidence before the presidential committee investigating the discovery of $43.4m and other currencies totaling about N15bn in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had made a claim to the funds.

The three-man investigation committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is enquiring into the circumstances in which the NIA came about the money, how and by whose or which authority it was made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there had been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Wednesday ordered the probe and suspended the NIA Director-General, Ambassador Ayo Oke, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Magu on Friday appeared before the panel comprising the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami and the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno.

Rising from the Vice President’s Wing of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja where he briefed the panel, Magu was sighted clutching documents tightly.

The EFCC had been summoned to furnish the committee with information on the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the money. Magu had, alongside the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Malam Lawal Daura and the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, earlier appeared before the probe panel Thursday.

The anti-graft agency boss declined comment when approached by State House correspondents on Friday.

A Presidency source told Daily Trust that the documents Magu submitted to the committee were “evidential enough”. The source, however, refused to give an insight into the nature of information provided by the EFCC boss.

The committee is also investigating the allegation of violation of the law and due process made against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North-East.