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N1.4bn scandal: EFCC to send operatives to S’Africa
Written by Duncan Friday, 09 July 2010
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The Economic and Financial Crimes will soon
dispatch some operatives to South Africa to verify claims made by
suspects in the N1.4bn scandal rocking the Nigeria Football Federation.
EFCC sources told our correspondent that some of the suspects invited by the commission were interogated on Thursday.
Those
who have consistently maintained that they have no hand in the alleged
fraud were said to have arrived at the EFCC office with heaps of
documents to defend themselves.
They were said to have
been released on administrative bail after hours of grilling with
strict instructions to make themselves available for further
questioning.
Citing “strategic reason,” the EFCC
source, however, refused to disclose the identities of those that
turned up for interrogation on Thursday.
The EFCC had, on
Monday invited the sacked President of the NFF, Sani Lulu, as well as
Amanze Uchegbulam, Taiwo Ogunjobi, who were also dismissed from the
board on Sunday.
Also invited was the federation’s
General Secretary, Bolaji Ojo-Oba. They were alleged to have played
different roles in the alleged mismanagement of the funds meant for
running the country’s football.
Some aggrieved board
members of the NFF had in a June 28 petition titled, ”Petition against
the Sani Lulu-led NFF board for corrupt practices,” catalogued how the
dismissed board members allegedly wasted public funds.
The
EFCC source, who spoke to our correspondent, claimed that the
commission recovered some vital documents from some of those that
honoured the invitation, on Thursday.
One of the said
documents was said to be a February 18, 1998 letter of dismissal issued
to Ogunjobi when he was the Chairman of the Shooting Stars of Ibadan.
The
source said, “The documents will assist us in our investigation. Some
of the suspects are also assisting us in our investigation and we will
not like to jeopardise our efforts by revealing their identities.
“Those
that came on Thursday, are not limited to the four suspects that we
invited initially. We have among them those that are members of the NFF
who are assisting us in our investigation.”
When
contacted, the EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Femi Babafemi,
confirmed that some of the invited suspects were interrogated on
Thursday.
He refused to reveal the identities of the
suspects, insisting that we “will tell you at the appropriate time. It
is an ongoing investigation.”
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