Fear in Jonathan’s Camp Over Plan to Arrest More Big Looters

There is unease in the camp of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan following fears of more arrests of suspects over the $2.1billion phoney arms deals.

There were indications last night that more former Ministers in Jonathan’s cabinet and some former public officer holders might be picked up by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The EFCC has also traced more than N8billion curious withdrawals from the Central Bank of Nigeria to the Villa Coded account tagged Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Research Library.

About N3.425bn of the N8bn was withdrawn for “special purposes” after 2015 presidential election.

Investigation by The Nation revealed that the anti-graft agency might arrest more suspects over the mismanagement of arms funds because of fresh clues.

It was learnt that some of the suspects, who have 'sneaked out' of the country, might be declared wanted.

One of the affected ex-public officers is alleged to have used the arms cash to rent an apartment in the posh Asokoro District in Abuja for his girlfriend at N26million per year.

The said officer was alleged to have paid N78million for three years, besides the agency fee.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The ongoing investigation has led to the uncovering of looting of funds meant for arms procurement.

“Some ex-ministers in ex-President Jonathan’s cabinet and a few public officers will certainly be arrested to explain their roles in the alleged diversion of the funds.

“Both the Presidential Committee on Procurement in the Armed Forces and the EFCC are collaborating on these latest cases.

“One of the former office holders under probe allegedly blew N78million to rent an apartment in Asokoro District for his girlfriend/mistress at N26million per annum. We have located the house; we will soon interact with the landlord.”

It was also gathered that one of the breakthroughs of the EFCC is how over N8billion was withdrawn from the CBN through Villa Coded Account for political patronage under “special purposes”.

The breakdown of withdrawals is as follows:

• N2,683, 620, 263.00 released on March 30, 2015 to MEA Research Library
• From ONSA Account Number 1014199287, about N350million was remitted to African Cable Television Limited on April 17, 2015;
• N392, 428, 880 debited Account number 0142861012 for transfer to MEA Research Library on May 6, 2015
• N5,554, 332, 420.04 withdrawn from CBN on February 3, 2014 through account 0142861012 for MEA Research Library
• N18.066million transferred to MEA Research Library Account 0020142861012 on July 21, 2014 for security operation for Osun election

Another source said: “Even from the outset, the payment schedule was strange. The nation has only Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was last used by the Federal Government during the military era, which ended on May 29, 1999.

“So, we will unmask those behind the operation of the Presidential Villa Coded Account and the beneficiaries of these funds.”