The amount of money which a zone of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has recovered in some months, has been revealed.
Officials of the EFCC
It has been revealed that the North-West zone of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has recovered N54,535,651,183.74 and another $622,200.00 (N190.1m) within the last 10 months.
The Punch reports that the Zonal Head of Operations (North-West Operations), Mr. Nnaghe Itam, who was briefing newsmen in Kano, on Tuesday, disclosed that the zone, within the period under review, had 214 cases, while 34 were currently undergoing prosecutions.
He pointed out that the anti-corruption agency secured 23 convictions during the period.
The EFCC zone, comprising Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states, according to Itam, also recovered some properties, which included eight houses, nine plots of land, three trucks and a car.
He said all the funds and properties were recovered from fraudsters and politically exposed persons, adding that the funds belonged to the Federal Government, corporations and individuals.
Itam said the recovery followed a directive from the Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who directed the zone to look into some complaints over the distribution and diversion of petroleum products during the last fuel crisis in the country.
He said that the zone’s investigation into the complaints yielded a refund of N54,393,106,143.00 to the Federal Government by some marketers.
The zonal head of the EFCC disclosed that some marketers collected petroleum products, sold them but refused to remit money to the government’s coffers.
Itam said, “I will also like to draw your attention to our proactive enlightenment campaigns within the zone in a bid to highlight what we can do to reduce corruption by not joining the corruption chain.
“It is important also to note that government is still the most active driver of the Nigerian economy. Our efforts are largely concentrated in tackling fraud relating to tax revenues within the business community in Kano.
“We have recovered millions of naira for the Federal Inland Revenue Service and are working to ensure that value is derived by government through an appropriate collection of taxes, rates and royalties.’’