The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says that it will on Friday (today) arraign a former Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris, before Justice Adeyemi Ajayi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja.
The commission said Idris and 3 others namely; Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited are to be arraigned over a 14-count charge of fraud and stealing to the tune of over N109 billion.
This disclosure is contained in a statement issued by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, on behalf of the commission on Thursday in Abuja.
What the EFCC is saying in the statement
- The statement from the EFCC partly reads, “He is to be docked alongside three others: Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited on a 14-count charge of stealing and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N109, 485,572,691.9.’’
- The anti-graft agency quoted count one of the charges as stating, “That you, Ahmed Idris, between February and December, 2021 at Abuja in the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, being a public servant by virtue of your position as the Accountant General of the Federation accepted from Olusegun Akindele, a gratification in the aggregate sum of N15,136,221,921.46 which sum was converted to the United States dollars by the said Olusegun Akindele and which sum did not form part of your lawful remuneration but as a motive for accelerating the payment of 13% derivation to the nine oil producing states in the federation, through the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 155 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 and punishable under the same section.”
- It also quoted count eight as stating, “That you, Ahmed Idris, while being the Accountant General of the Federation and Olusegun Akindele while being the Technical Assistant to the Accountant General of the Federation between February and November 2021, at Abuja in the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, in such capacity, entrusted with a certain property, to wit: N84.390bn committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property when you dishonestly received the said sum from the Federal Government of Nigeria through Godfrey Olusegun Akindele trading under the name and style of Olusegun Akindele & Co., and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.”
What you should know
- Recall that the Accountant General of the Federation was first arrested by the EFCC on May 16, 2022, over alleged diversion of funds and money laundering activities to the tune of N80 billion.
- Idris was arrested after he failed to honour invitations by the commission to respond to issues connected to the alleged fraudulent acts.
- He was subsequently suspended from office by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.
- EFCC accused Idris of diverting those funds through bogus consultancies and other illegal activities using proxies, family members and close associates, adding that they were laundered through real estate investments in Kano and Abuja.