Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has been suspended by the Presidency.
Magu was arrested on Monday by a combined team of Department of State Services personnel and policemen at the Wuse II office of the EFCC to face an interagency committee investigating corruption allegations against him.
He was detained at the FCID in Area 10, Abuja, on Monday night on the orders of the committee that also questioned him on Tuesday morning.
A source in the Presidency confirmed the development Tuesday afternoon that Magu has now been suspended pending when a decision will be taken on him.
A 2016 report by the DSS accused Magu of corruption and also after Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, more recently, indicted him of financial scam.
The DSS report reads in part: “In December 2010, the Police Service Commission (PSC) found Magu guilty of actions prejudicial to state security – withholding of EFCC files, sabotage, unauthorised removal of EFCC files and acts unbecoming of a police officer, and awarded him severe reprimand as punishment.
“Magu is currently occupying a residence rented for N40 million at N20 million per annum. This accommodation was not paid [for] from the commission’s finances, but by one Umar Mohammed, air commodore retired, a questionable businessman who has subsequently been arrested by the secret service.
“For the furnishing of the residence, Magu enlisted the Federal Capital Development Authority to award a contract to Africa Energy, a company owned by the same Mohammed, to furnish the residence at the cost of N43 million.
“Investigations show that the acting EFCC chairman regularly embarked on official and private trips through a private jet owned by Mohammed. In one of such trips, Magu flew to Maiduguri alongside Mohammed with a bank MD who was being investigated by the EFCC over complicity in funds allegedly stolen by the immediate past petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
“Furthermore, the EFCC boss has so far maintained a high-profile lifestyle. This is exemplified by his preference for first-class air travels. On June 24, 2016, he flew Emirate airlines first-class to Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser hajj at the cost of N2.9 million.
“This is in spite of Mr. President’s directive to all public servants to fly economy class. Magu has fostered a beneficial relationship with Mohammed who by his confession approaches clients for possible exploitation, favours and associated returns.”
There have been previous moves to have Buhari drop Magu, following his appointment as acting chairman on November 9, 2015. The intrigues twice stalled his confirmation by the Eighth Senate, causing him to remain an interim head of the anti-graft agency ever since.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had on Friday said the memo by Malami indicting Magu of financial scam had further exposed the corruption, deception and hypocrisy of the Buhari-led government.
Source: GUARDIAN
