The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has recovered N381m from
Mrs. Omolara Amosu, the wife of the immediate past Chief of Air Staff,
Air Marshal Adesola Amosu.
Sources within the EFCC said on Saturday that the money was recovered in three tranches: N180m, N101m and N100m.
The
detective told our correspondent that the money was traced from the
account of the Nigeria Air Force to the bank accounts of a company in
which Amosu’s wife is a director.
He added that Amosu’s wife is a signatory to the accounts.
He
said, “We recovered N381m from Amosu’s wife, Omolara. Initially, we
recovered N180m from her account before another N101m and then N100m.
These were monies transferred from Air Force accounts.”
Explaining
how the money was diverted, the detective added, “They (Air Force
officers) sent the money to an account where their wives have interests
or are signatories without doing anything.”
A second source
within the EFCC told our correspondent that more properties belonging to
the immediate past Chief of Accounts and Budgeting of NAF, Air Vice
Marshal J.B. Adigun, had been seized.
The detective said a property, which is a quarry located in Ogun State, had equipment worth about $600,000.
He, however, did not state the value of the property.
Two weeks ago, houses worth over N2bn in Ikoyi and Victoria Island allegedly belonging to Adigun were seized.
The
source said, “Adigun is still here with us. We recovered a quarry which
he owns. In the quarry there were pieces of equipment worth about
$600,000. They have all been impounded and investigations are ongoing.”
Amosu,
Adigun and over nine air force officers are currently under
investigation by the anti-graft agency for the procurement of equipment
which was said not to be transparent.
Since his detention, Amosu
had been quizzed over the procurement of two second-hand Mi-24V
Helicopters instead of the recommended Mi-35M series at a cost of
$136.9m.
The helicopters were alleged not to be operationally
airworthy at the time of delivery while a brand new unit of such
helicopters costs about $30m.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that Amosu
and some other officers would be charged to court as soon as the
holding charge which the EFCC obtained in court to hold the officers for
30 days from January 28 lapses.
A detective said, “Amosu will be
charged to court anytime from now. Recall that we obtained a holding
charge from a court to hold him for a maximum of 30 days. We are
rounding off our investigations and anytime from now, he will be charged
to court.”
The PUNCH had exclusively reported on February 11
that the EFCC had seized houses and other properties belonging to the
immediate past Chief of Air Staff and other senior military officers
worth N5bn.
According to the report, the properties, which were
seized in the Ikoyi, Ikeja GRA and Badagry areas of Lagos State,
allegedly belonged to Amosu; the immediate past Chief of Accounts and
Budgeting of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal J.B. Adigun; and
Air Commodore O. O. Gbadebo, who was the Director of Finance and Budget
at NAF.
A source, who spoke to The PUNCH had said, “We have
sealed a block of 12 luxury flats, located on Agodogba Street, Park View
Estate, Ikoyi, belonging to Adigun. It is worth over N1.7bn. The same
Adigun also owns another block of luxury flats on Sinari Daranijo
Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. It is worth N1.8bn.
“A parcel of
land, located on Bourdillon Drive, Ikoyi, worth N908m, belonging to
Adigun has also been seized by the EFCC operatives.”
The source
added that six other properties had been traced to Adigun, including a
set of four terrace houses on Agede Street, off Aminu Kano in the Wuse 2
area of Abuja.
He stated that the properties traced to Amosu were located in the Ikeja area of Lagos metropolis.
The operative said apart from the buildings, Amosu’s vehicles had also been confiscated by the anti-graft agency.
He
added, “Amosu confessed to owning an ultra-modern hospital on Adeniyi
Jones Avenue in Ikeja. The hospital, St Solomon Health Care Limited,
which is worth about N85m, has been sealed off.
“A house located
on Adeyemo Alakija Street, GRA Ikeja, near the Ghanaian High Commission,
which belongs to Amosu has also been sealed. It is worth over N200m.”
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