FAAN staff arrested by EFCC over N100m fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has announced the arrest of a level six officer in the account department of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Christy Olabode, for an alleged fraud of N100m.

The EFCC also disclosed in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, Olabode’s younger brother, Abdul-Shehu Obaze, who works at the commercial department of FAAN in Ilorin and an IT officer at FAAN headquarters in Lagos, Dominic Ojo, were also arrested over the fraud.

Olabode was arrested after it received an anonymous petition against her. She was said to have diverted the money by inserting names of non-FAAN employees including dead and retired ones into its payroll.

The statement read in part: “Obaze was found to have maintained not less than eight accounts in seven banks, which were used to receive the funds for onward distribution to several high ranking officers within the FAAN.

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“The funds were being paid into his various bank accounts with the narrative, ‘Furniture allowance’. However, while allowance for FAAN’s furniture is usually paid once in three years, Obaze received the ‘allowance’ several times within a year.”

According to the statement, the fraud had gone on since 2013 with investigation revealing a payroll with names of many dead, retired and disengaged staff of FAAN listed against Obaze’s different bank accounts.

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews

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