Posted by By Jude Owuamanam and Oscarline Onwuemenyi on
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday said it did not misappropriate N741m belonging to ex-Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday said it did not misappropriate N741m belonging to ex-Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State.
The commission, which made the clarification in a statement by its Head, Media and Publicity, Mr. Osita Nwajah, described Dariye's allegation as laughable.
The statement reads, 'The Commission's involvement in the matter between Chief Dariye and the London Metropolitan Police is to the extent that EFCC assisted the Metropolitan Police with information and evidence to help it in the investigation and prosecution of Chief Dariye over his contravention of UK money laundering laws, in line with Section 6 (j) and (k) of the EFCC Establishment Act;
'The Commission¢s only full involvement with Dariye is currently facing charges in Nigeria for looting the coffers of the Plateau State government
'EFCC has never engaged the services of any solicitor by name Kandel Freeman to pursue any recovery for the Commission; EFCC was not involved in the freezing, recovery or return of the Dariye loot. Not a penny of the recovered money or disposed assets was ever in the custody of the Commission;
'It would be recalled that the funds were repatriated from the United Kingdom through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation at a widely reported media event on the 27th of September, 2007 and not through the EFCC.
'The Commission understands the desperation of Chief Dariye, which is finding expression through this attempt to drag EFCC into murky political waters and tarnish its hard-worn image, with the intent to influence the case the Commission is prosecuting against him in court.
'However, this would not work as the Commission is bent on bringing Chief Joshua Dariye to book for the crimes he committed against the government and people of Plateau State."
Dariye had petitioned President Umaru Yar'Adua, accusing the EFCC of appropriating N741m of the N770,056,000 seized from him in the United Kingdom.
He said that the £416,000, about N29.3m, returned by the British government fell far short of the £2,961,560.00 seized from him.
Dariye had also accused the EFCC of conniving with a London-based law firm and the London Metropolitan Police for the underhand dealing.
He, therefore, requested the President to transfer cases of corruption charges being levelled against him to other agencies for prosecution.
The British government through Tansley had last week handed over N29.3m to the Federal Government, being the amount allegedly laundered by the former governor in the UK .
But in the petition dated September 28, 2007, Dariye said the money declared was a far cry from the amount seized from him and his associates by the London Metropolitan Police.
Dariye asked the President to order an investigation into the actual amount seized from him and the amount returned to the Nigerian government 'in the spirit of the rule of law and due process agenda of this administration."