Bankers, Civil Servants in Trouble over $151m in Fictitious Accounts

Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), attorney-general of the Federation, has said that the federal government was compiling lists of suspects who will face trial over the $151million and N8billion found in fictitious bank accounts

On the list are bankers and civil servants, but Malami declined to name the suspects but stressed that the government is interested in knowing how the funds were sourced and lodged in the accounts.

Malami, who spoke with the Nation correspondent from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said: “But investigation is in top gear and I will not want to jeopardise it by giving out names of those affected.”

Pressed for more comments, Malami said: “I am not certain of the number now but it is huge because it involved a syndicate.

“The culprits include civil servants and bank officials who all connived to stash away these recovered monies.”

He stressed that “no businessman was implicated but the suspects, who are many, are mostly civil servants and bank officials”.

Another government source said the suspects would be named in court when charges are preferred against them.

But the Nation reported that there were strong indications yesterday that a commercial bank had written the Federal Government, owning up to the lodgement of $136,676,600.51 in a fictitious account with it.

The bank has promised to remit the slush funds into a dedicated account provided by the government.

The government official, who pleaded not to be named because of “the sensitivity of the matter”, said: “Before the government released the fact-sheet on the recovery of $136,676,600.51, it got a letter of from a commercial bank owning up that the cash was wired into a fictitious account in one of its branches.

“The bank also made a commitment to remit the seized cash to a dedicated account which has been provided by the Federal Government. We are expecting the refund from the bank any moment from now.

“We have the required evidence from the bank with the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation(OAGF).”

The government source spoke on the investigation, saying “it is almost completed”.

He agreed that Nigerians were eager to know the suspects, but insisted that “we will release their names only after charges have been preferred against them in court”.