By Patrick Obia
After seven hours of tight grilling, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has released the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Dr. Betta Edu.
The former minister was invited by the anti-graft agency to answer questions concerning alleged financial misconduct in her ministry.
Having quizzed from 11:AM to 6:PM, she was released.
However, Edu and her predecessor Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, and the suspended National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Program Agency (NSIPA) Halima Shehu were asked to submit their international passports pending the conclusion of the investigation.
The EFCC said the gesture was to make the trio available in the course of their investigations and was part of the conditions for granting them administrative bail.
An insider in the Commission said: “We have asked all those under interrogation to submit their traveling documents. We have seized the passports of Betta, Sadiya, Halima and others.
“For Betta, who was grilled from 11 am till 6 pm, she was the last to be granted bail yesterday.
“We demanded their passports to restrict their movement, to enable them to be available for interrogation. They are all cooperating with us.”
Sources said the three managing directors of undisclosed banks were quizzed over their suspected conspiracy.
The banks were accused of refusal to raise “red flags” and gross involvement in suspicious transactions.
The banks were alleged to have violated the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amendment) 2023, especially Sections 5, 10, and 16(b).
Short Link:
Leave feedback about this