Politics

Former SGF Falae in trouble with EFCC over N100m campaign funds

Published

8 years ago

July 17, 2016

Former SGF Falae in trouble with EFCC over N100m campaign funds

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Chief Olu Falae, was interrogated by the EFCC, over his role in the arms procurement funds scandal.

Falae, who had earlier admitted collecting N100 million from the former Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Tony Anenih, had maintained that he was given the money for campaign based on an agreement and as such he had no money to return since he did not collect money from the former NSA, Sambo Dasuki.

Falae, sources in EFCC said, has soft pedaled on his hard stand after he was confronted with fresh facts.

The source said Falae, who was grilled for several hours, started begging after he was confronted with the fact that he only transferred N60 million to the bank account of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, while retained N40 million for himself.

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The source said: “Chief Falae came to our office based on an invitation. He told us the story of how he received N100m based on the instruction of Anenih. However, our investigations revealed that Falae only transferred N60m to his party, SDP.

“The remaining N40m was personally withdrawn by him, which means it was not used for campaign. When he was confronted, he started appealing to us that he did not want to be detained or taken to court, so we told him to go and bring the N40m first.

“He said we should give him some time, so we have given him two weeks to go and bring the money and then report back to us.”

On whether the EFCC was going to charge him to court after freezing his account, the source said: “Chief Falae, is a former Permanent Secretary and Minister of Finance. There is no way he would not have known that the deal was shady.

“If he really wanted to use the money for campaign, why didn’t he ask that the N100m be paid into the account of the SDP? Also, why didn’t he question the source of the fund when it did not emanate from the account of the PDP? Why did he keep N40m to himself?”, the source queried.

It would be recalled that Falae had initially taken a hard stance with EFCC over the matter, insisting that the money was for his party, and that he would not make any refunds, as it had been spent on campaigns.

Falae had also recently undergone an ordeal in the hands of kidnappers, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, who kept him in their custody for a few days, before his release.

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