Mr Magu was arrested on Tuesday and has since then been interrogated by a panel headed by retired Justice Ayo Salami on allegations of mismanagement and lack of transparency in managing recovered assets by the commission.
He was later suspended and has remained in custody since then.
In his first public reaction to the Magu case, President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday said there were serious allegations of fraud against the EFCC chief, and the administration acted after a preliminary review of the accusations.
“There is no better indication that the fight is real and active than the will to investigate allegations in an open and transparent manner against those who have been charged to be custodians of this very system,” the president said through his spokesperson, Garba Shehu.
Citing the report of the Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2017, the state-owned news agency, NAN, said there was a revelation how interests on N550 billion recovered by the EFCC in the period under review was allegedly re-looted.
NAN said the panel’s report that covered the period of May 29, 2015, to Nov. 22, 2018, also confirmed the concerns of the public about contradictory recovery figures emanating from Mr Magu.
“It is quite disturbing that conflicting figures are being circulated in the public space by EFCC as the amount of recovered funds,” it quoted the report as saying.
“For Foreign currency recoveries, EFCC reported a total naira equivalent of N46,038,882,509.87, while the naira equivalent of the foreign currency lodgments were N37,533,764,195.66, representing a shortfall of N8,505,118,314.21.
These inconsistencies cast a serious doubt on the accuracy of figures submitted by the EFCC. It is the committee’s view that the EFCC cannot be said to have fully accounted for cash recoveries made by it.
“While EFCC reported total Naira recoveries of N504,154,184,744.04, the actual bank lodgments were N543,511,792,863.47. These discrepancies mean that EFCC’s actual lodgment exceeded its reported recoveries by N39,357,608,119.43.
“It must be pointed out that the discrepancy of more than thirty nine billion naira does not include interest accrued in this account since it was opened.
Source Premium Times.
