Posted by By DIPO KEHINDE on
Detectives at the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) in Lagos began the interrogation of former Oyo State Governor, Alhaji Rasidi Ladoja on Monday over the sales and alleged fraudulent conversion of proceeds of shares belonging to Oyo State.
Detectives at the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) in Lagos began the interrogation of former Oyo State Governor, Alhaji Rasidi Ladoja on Monday over the sales and alleged fraudulent conversion of proceeds of shares belonging to Oyo State.
Ladoja, who was at the weekend declared wanted after he failed to honour police invitation, which gave him till September 7 to come and clear his name, arrived at the Milverton Road office of SFU at about 1.54 p.m on Monday, in a convoy of four cars.
The former governor, who was in a cream-coloured Agbada and black cap, came to the SFU with his lawyers, other suspects, who were also declared wanted and some relations. But there were indications that he would not go home until the police were through with their investigations.
The other suspects, who came with Ladoja were, Chief Dele Adigun, former Secretary to the State Government; Chief Sarafadeen Alli, former Chief of Staff, one Chief Alase, Mr W. A. F. Akanbi, former Commissioner for Finance and Arch. A. Gbadegesin, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce.
Confirming that the police were not in a hurry to let Ladoja go home, the Commissioner of Police in charge of SFU, Mr Olayinka Balogun, told Daily Sun that his men had to do a thorough job and that they had 24 hours to do that before setting the suspects free.
He said: "He could stay till tomorrow and he could leave tonight. But he must stay till he finishes defending himself. He has many questions to answer and if my boys can finish their work before 12 tonight, we'll let him go."
To get to the root of the sales of over six billion naira shares, the police said they were still trying to get some information from the stock exchange, from banks and the companies that transacted the business on their behalf.
"We need to know how much the shares cost at the time of sale; how much they're worth now and how much was remitted. The stock exchange will tell us how much they were sold," Balogun said.
The detectives at SFU had on Friday detained a former commissioner and two heads of establishments in Oyo State over the shares sale scandal. They gave the names of the detained suspects as Mrs Christiana Abiodun Babalola, former Commissioner for Commerce and Cooperative; Mr Yinka Fatoki, deputy director, Investment and Promotion, Oyo State Ministry of Commerce and Mr Bolaji Julius Oladele, Director of Finance, Oyo State Minister of Finance.
Daily Sun learnt that the net proceeds accruable to the state coffers were N6, 258, 748, 904.70 billion.
The amount remitted to the government coffers was found to be N325, 808, 872. 20 billion. There was a deficit balance of N1, 932, 940, 032. 48 billion unaccounted for between the government and the wanted companies.
The interrogators at SFU said they wanted to know, among other things, if the sale of the shares followed due process; whether any individual or individuals benefited personally and the criminal involvement of the companies that were used.
The police also told Daily Sun that detectives were on the trail of the directors of the accused companies, who had refused to honour police invitation.