arraign Mr. Abiodun Agbele, an ally of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti
State, on charges of fraud involving N1.2bn belonging to the Federal
Government.
The said sum was alleged to be part of the N4.7bn that was mysteriously
transferred from the imprest account of the Office of the National Security
Adviser to the bank account of Sylvan McNamara, a company allegedly
owned by the sons of a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator
Musiliu Obanikoro.
Obanikoro allegedly took N1.2bn from the N4.7bn and flew it to Akure
during the build-up to the governorship election in Ekiti State and handed
the sum to Agbele for onward transfer to Fayose.
It was learnt on Tuesday that the EFCC filed the charges against Agbele
before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja on
Monday.
The EFCC had arrested Agbele in Lagos on June 28 and kept him in its
custody pending investigations.
The EFCC said the amount was part of the proceeds of economic and
financial crime in which Agbele “was found to have allegedly assisted in
receiving and concealing in conspiracy with the former Minister of State for
Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, and the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele
Fayose.”
Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of a Federal Capital Territory High Court in
Maitama, had on July 21 ordered the EFCC to release Agbele from its
custody.
Justice Adeniyi in a ruling on the suspect’s bail application declared the
continued detention of the suspect without being charged to court and
without the backing of any competent remand order amounted to a “gross
violation” of his right.
The judge awarded N5m against the EFCC as compensation to Agbele for
his unlawful detention by the anti-graft agency.
Justice Adeniyi in another ruling on Tuesday, dismissed an application by
the EFCC seeking an order of stay of execution of the court’s July 21 order.
The anti-graft agency had filed the motion for stay of execution along with
its notice of appeal challenging the court’s ruling.
But the judge in dismissing the application for stay of execution, held on
Tuesday that there was no special circumstances to warrant the stopping
the enforcement of the order granting bail to the accused.
One of our correspondents confirmed from court officials on Tuesday that
Agbele had now been charged before Justice Dimgba of the Federal High
Court and his arraignment slated for Wednesday.
In a related development, the EFCC has quizzed Agbele’s account officer,
Rita Balogun, over the suspicious payments made into his company
account domiciled in Diamond Bank.
Balogun, who works at the Business Banking Unit of the Ibadan West
directorate of Diamond Bank, said in her statement of oath that Agbele
received over N60m from the Ekiti State local governments funds.
The funds were allegedly paid into his company account, BYKD Consult,
with number 0059177132, between February 18 and March 30, 2015. The
money was then wired to Affordable Motors.
Agbele allegedly got the funds under the pretext that he was given a
contract by Fayose. Investigators are, however, of the opinion that there
was no evidence of any contractual agreement.
Balogun in her statement of oath, said, “On February 18, 2015, he received
N18,159,050 from MDG-CGS-LG. On the same day, he received
N15,319,850 from the same account. On the same day, he also received
N11,238,500 from the same account.
“On February 19, 2015, he debited the account with N40m and transferred
it to Affordable/Toyota. On the next day, he transferred N15m to
Affordable/Toyota. On March 30, he received N15,704,325 from MDG-CGS-
LG.
“On April 1, he transferred N3,195,000 to Fini Insurance Brokers. On April
29, he transferred N5m to his personal account titled Abiodun Agbele. On
April 30, he transferred another N5m to his personal account while N2m
was on May 15, transferred to his personal account.”
She noted that the account had since been frozen by the EFCC. Punch
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