- Says minister who bought $37.5m property not in Buhari’s govt
By Deji Elumoye
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has declared that the real estate sector of the economy served as a major conduit for money laundering in the country.
He also clarified that he was not referring to a serving minister in his narration of how a Minister purchased a $37.5 million property through a bank chief.
Bawa, who featured Thursday at the weekly Ministerial Press Briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team at the State House, Abuja, identified the real estate sector as a major conduit for money laundering saying 90 to 100 percent of stolen public funds are used for the procurement of houses and lands.
When asked why no Minister had resigned or a bank manager prosecuted over the money laundering matter, Bawa said he was only making reference to Diezani Alison-Madueke’s case, insisting she will still be prosecuted once she is in the country.
Bawa had on Tuesday in an interview with Channels Television disclosed that EFCC investigated a female Minister, who bought $37.5million property from a bank and deposited $20 million cash.
“We investigated a matter in which a bank MD marketed a property to a minister and agreed to purchase it at $37.5 million.
“The bank then sent a vehicle to her house to evacuate $20 million from her house in the first instance,” he had said.
Details later…
