SAN FRANCISCO, October 18, (THEWILL) – The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has reacted to claim that it tried to arrest the wife of ex-Aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, and their eight-month-old baby in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, suggesting that the erstwhile minister of Aviation operates at least 15 accounts with GT Bank and two with Diamond Bank.
Fani-Kayode, had while announcing the development, explained that his wife had gone to withdraw money from an account when the EFCC allegedly tried to arrest her.
“This was an account that has 200,000 naira in it and that has never had more than 500,000.
“She has operated it since 2005 and she stopped using it in 2013. The account has no connection with me and I did not know it existed till today,” he said, accusing the anti-graft agency of witch-hunting him for opposing the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The commission on Monday evening, however denied arresting or detaining Fani-Kayode’s wife or kid, even as it disputed the claim, adding that the account had a balance of over N2 million.
This was contained in a statement issued by the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, which reads: “The wife of Femi Fani-Kayode and her child are not in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and were never detained by the Commission.
“Contrary to the media spin about the purported arrest of mother and child, a certain Chikwendu Sonia today (Monday) attempted to withdraw money from an Access Bank account that had been placed on ‘Post No Debit’ Category, following the discovery of illicit cash flows into the account.
“She was intercepted by the bank while the Commission was notified but because it was late, the EFCC advised that the suspect be taken to the Police station for processing and release on bail.
“They were arranging to take the suspect to the police station when Governor Ayo Fayose stormed the bank with thugs and his personal security and forcefully secured the release of the suspect, with claims that the EFCC had no power to detain anybody in his state.
“He also vowed to close down the branch of the bank.
“The said account, which had a balance of N 2,307,712.82 was flagged following investigation into the PDP Joint Trust fund when the Commission traced N1.1billion to the Zenith Bank account of Fani-Kayode.
“It was discovered that the account had two biometric identification numbers, one for Fani-Kayode and the other (with BVN 2205597283) for Sonia Chikwendu.
“The same BVN is linked to two other accounts in Diamond Bank and 15 accounts in Guaranty Trust Bank.”
Written by Ugonnabo Ngwu.
