BREAKING NEWS:
‘We Will Investigate All Assets of Reuben Abati, N50million Cash, Plus other Funds Received’-EFCC
…Abati explains: ‘Sambo Dasuki, former NSA Voluntarily Dashed Me N50Million, I Did Not Ask for It’
*EFCC: ‘There Are Many Fund Vouchers Attributed to you, We Need Clean Explanation’
* ‘We Will Investigate his Properties, May Freeze his Bank Accounts’-Anti-graft agency
* EFCC questions: ‘What is your Relationship in $2.1Billion Dasuki’s Arms Deal?’
* ‘Abati’s Cellphones Seized by EFCC, Trace Transcripts of Calls Data to Dasuki through Mobile Carriers’ -INVESTIGATION
BY YOMI ADENUGA/ANTI-GRAFT STAFF WRITER, ABUJA
REUBEN ABATI, a former Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to erstwhile President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is being grilled and seriously investigated by crack detectives of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC at their headquarters located in No 5 Fomella Street, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja over his alleged collection of various sums of hefty funds directly from the Office of the then National Security Adviser, NSA, under Sambo Dasuki, a retired military officer.
Sources in EFCC had told this correspondent that when Abati arrived their office, he planned to call his lawyers to witness his investigation, but was declined immediately by fully armed men of the anti-graft agency. “When Abati arrived our EFCC Headquarters, we took him to investigation room. There he requested that he needed to invite his attorneys to witness the investigation, we declined it since we are doing our job as constitutionally allowed.
“In EFCC Establishment Act 2002 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria under Part IV Offences Schedule 13 Relating to Financial Malpractices, Schedule 15 Relating to Public Officers, we have rights to forfeiture after conviction in some certain cases: as in forfeiture of passport, Property subject to forfeiture and Seizure of Property.”
His words: “Same EFCC Establishment Act 2002 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria under Part V Offences Schedule 26 to 31 lawfully allows us to conduct a comprehensive Investigation of assets and properties of person arrested under this Act, Disclosure of assets and properties. by an arrested persons, etc. Schedule, Obtain Interim forfeiture order, Final Order; Final disposal of forfeited property, Offences in relation to forfeiture orders, Consequences of an acquittal in respect of assets and properties, Freezing Order on bank or other financial institutions.
On steps being taken by EFCC operatives to gather lid-tight evidence, the top EFCC source explained that moves had already been made after 24 hours of his arrival in our office to Mobile Telephone networks on transcripts of all his calls data to Dasuki during those periods he collected various hefty sums to read their entire conversation. We will pursue this matter fully to the end.”
Meanwhile, the presidential spokesman was still being quizzed as at the time of filing the report and it was not immediately clear when Abati would be freed. Another detective in EFCC corroborated this stance when he confided in our correspondent : “We invited Abati to our office to clear the air on the records before us that he received at various times various sums of money from the Office of National Security Adviser. We want him to furnish us with the details of the payment and the purposes of such disbursements.
“We can tell you that one of the vouchers from the Office of National Security Adviser shows that he collected N50 million cash from the office but we want him to justify why he received money from the $2.1 billion meant for arms purchase to fight insurgents. There are many vouchers attributed to the former Presidential spokesman but we will take them one after the other until we get satisfactory answers from him.
“We acknowledged that Abati came on his volition based on our invitation and our operatives are talking to him as we speak.” It would be recalled that early this year, exactly in the month of January, Nduka Obaigbena, owner of ThisDAY newspapers was alleged by EFCC to have collected N50million from Dasuki, which the latter declined when he explained that the said N50million was handed out to Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, not him. Till date, no record has shown a denial of this hefty sum by the executives of NGE.
