The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has invited the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Zenith, Providus, and Jaiz banks for questioning over an alleged embezzlement scheme involving the current and former Ministers of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu and Sadiya Umar-Farouq.
We learned that the bank chiefs, Dr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu (Zenith Bank), Haruna Musa (Jaiz Bank), and Walter Akpani (Providus Bank), submitted documents of accounts operated by the humanitarian affairs ministry to the EFCC to aid the ongoing investigation.
The bank CEOs were at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, where they were interrogated over the improper diversion of public funds into private accounts, allegedly authorized by Edu and Farouq using their ministerial powers.
The EFCC is unraveling a network of suspicious transactions involving huge amounts of public money siphoned into private accounts, sources close to The Guardian said on condition of anonymity.
Farouq, who headed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs under the previous administration of Muhammadu Buhari, is also accused of mismanaging N37 billion allocated for the conditional cash transfer program during President Buhari’s tenure.
The sources revealed that a possible deliberate failure by the banks to flag suspicious activity – a vital duty required by anti-financial crime laws and Central Bank directives – facilitated the blatant misappropriation of public funds.
The bank chiefs were released after meeting with EFCC interrogators, while the EFCC Spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, was not available to confirm the development at press time.
