Foreign Affairs DG, 24 others in trouble over illegal withdrawal of $219,000

A Director General of a parastatal under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and 24 others are in trouble with the EFCC over the illegal withdrawal of $219,000.

The money was withdrawn from the account of the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund, NTCF

According to reports, the money, meant to provide some development projects for some African countries in the 2013 fiscal year and jointly managed by the African Development Bank and the NTCF, was withdrawn from the NTCF account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The Borno State-born DG was said to have connived with others to convert the money to personal use, making aggrieved staffers of the agency to petition the EFCC.

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Reports say EFCC operatives, posing as auditors, spent days examining the accounts of the agency.

A source close to the investigation said: “It was clear to us that the money in question had been withdrawn by the officials but what we want to know is what the money was used for.

“Having established a prima facie case of illegal withdrawal, we invited the DG and the 24 staff and they were interrogated between Tuesday and Thursday and all of them made useful statements to the commission.”

The source further disclosed that the DG and others interrogated were admitted to administrative bail after accepting to refund the money to the last kobo. He added that they have been asked to report back on Thursday.

There are however indications that influential politicians from Borno State are piling pressure on the anti-corruption agency to give the DG a soft landing.

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews …

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