Following the ongoing investigations into scandals in the Ministry of Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has confiscated the passports of the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq.
From EFCC’s investigation into the N44bn fraud uncovered in the ministry, it was gathered that managing directors of three commercial banks were also questioned on Tuesday over the fraud.
The saga involving Edu exploded after a leaked memo revealed that the suspended minister directed the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer N585m to a private account owned by one Oniyelu Bridget, who the ministry claimed currently serves as the Project Accountant, Grants for Vulnerable Groups.
Beta had claimed that the N585m payment was meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun, and Lagos states, dismissing the allegations against her as baseless.
Rasheed Olarewaju, The Media Assistant to the minister, claimed in a statement that it was legal within the civil service for such payments to be made into private accounts of staff members, especially project accountants.
In response to public pressure, the President on Monday suspended Edu and directed her to hand over to the permanent secretary in the ministry.
On Tuesday, Edu responded to the EFCC invitation and she was subjected to long interrogations by investigators.
It was also gathered that her personal and official passports were taken away by detectives and she has been stopped from traveling out of the country.
Meanwhile, her predecessor, Umar-Farouq, had been cracked by investigators for 12 hours on Monday in connection with the probe into the N37.1bn allegedly laundered during her tenure in office, through a contractor, James Okwete.
The ex-minister’s passport was also confiscated as part of her bail conditions before she was subsequently released late Monday night.
Explaining the reason for the confiscating the duo’s Passports, an EFCC source said their passports were confiscated in order to deter them from fleeing the country while the investigation subsists.
“The commission has seized the passports of the two ministers, Sadiya Shehu and Betta Edu. We have also seized Mrs Halima Shehu’s passport pending the conclusion of investigations. The commission does not want to risk having any of them leave the country while they still have questions to answer,” the source said.
Source: Punch Newspapers
