The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has disclosed that $153 million and 80 houses have been recovered from former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who has been living in Britain since leaving office.
Bawa said the 80 choice property recovered from the former minister is valued at $80 million.
This was contained in the April edition of the EFCC magazine, EFCC Alert.
The commission added that bringing Alison-Madueke to justice was still far from reality, due to the fact that she was out of Nigeria’s jurisdiction.
The EFCC said, “There are several cases surrounding Diezani’s case. I was part of that investigation, and we have done quite a lot. In one of the cases, we recovered $153 million; we have secured the final forfeiture of over 80 properties in Nigeria valued at about $80 million. We have done quite a bit on that.
“The other cases as it relates to the $115 million INEC bribery is also ongoing across the federation. We are looking forward to the time we will, maybe, have her in the country, and, of course, review things and see what will happen going forward. The case has certainly not been abandoned.’’
Responding to a question as to how he would deal with persons in power in the discharge of his duties, Bawa stated that he would be ready to quit the job if anyone tried to make him do anything illegal.
He said, “I am not going to pay allegiance to individuals in the government.
“I rose through the ranks. The only job I know after graduation is the EFCC, which I joined in 2004. I rose through the ranks from an ordinary team member, to the first EFCC team leader from the regular staff of the EFCC.
“I became a sectional head, became the zonal head in Ibadan, zonal head in Port Harcourt, and zonal head in Lagos. Lagos is the biggest operational hub of the EFCC with over 600 personnel. Port Harcourt is next to it in terms of complexity and staff strength. I happen to be the first EFCC regular staff to head three different zones before my appointment as the chairman.”