The Justice Ayo Salami Presidential panel probing the suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, has commenced a physical verification of all assets seized by the EFCC under Magu’s watch.
Already, the panel has visited Lagos, Abuja, Rivers State and a few other major offices of the EFCC.
Reliable sources at the panel, who pleaded anonymity, said the exercise was aimed at verifying the embattled acting EFCC chairman’s claims regarding the seized assets.
According to the sources, the panel members are also scheduled to visit Ibadan, Oyo State, before this week runs out.
It was learnt that the panel discovered that some of the houses Magu claimed to have seized did not have the markings “EFCC, keep off!” while they also found in some of the other houses the suspected looters still occupying them.
They also found some of the other seized houses being occupied by strange persons, despite Magu’s claims that he obtained presidential approval to allocate such property to them. But he was said to have been unable to produce the letter from the President authorising him to do so.
Many of the vehicles also seized by the EFCC were said to have been found by the panel during its tour to have been cannibalised as they were found in “very bad shape” with many of them no longer having their engines and tyres.
The panel, it was further learnt, may submit its report to President Muhammadu Buhari next week.
The Salami panel concluded its sittings about two weeks ago but its report has yet to be submitted to the President, a development a source said is due to the panel’s ongoing tour of EFCC formations across the country.
Recall that Magu and over 13 other senior officials of the EFCC, including its Secretary, Ola Olukoyede, were suspended in July following a report by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), accusing Magu of being unable to account for the interest that accrued to over N550bn recovered funds.
Malami’s report, which was based on the investigation of a separate panel he personally set up, stated that Magu allegedly purchased a house in Dubai for N570m, an allegation that the suspended EFCC boss has constantly denied.
Following the AGF’s report, President Buhari set up a panel under the chairmanship of Justice Ayo Salami (North-Central) with other members, including Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Michael Ogbezi (South-South); a representative of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Muhammad Babadoko (North-Central); and Hassan Abdullahi from the Department of State Services (North-Central).
Others are Muhammad Shamsudeen from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (North-West), Douglas Egweme from the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (South-East), and Kazeem Atitebi (South-West) who serves as the Secretary.
Magu’s lawyer, Tosin Ojaomo, could not be reached for comments.