According to a Friday revelation by SaharaReporters, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s former Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, was the subject of a N580 million money laundering operation by the Nigerian secret police.
As reported by SaharaReporters on Friday, sources within the Department of State Services (DSS), which has been holding Bawa since June, claim that the former anti-corruption boss has paid back more than N580 million that was allegedly fraudulently obtained while he was in charge of the organisation.
This is happening as pressure mounts on the DSS to either free Bawa or accuse him of the crimes that the secret police’s investigation has shown he committed.
Bawa’s chairmanship of the EFCC was placed on indefinite administrative leave by President Bola Tinubu in June as a result of “weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him” and “to allow for proper investigation into his conduct while in office.
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Approximately 14 hours after the president had suspended Bawa, the DSS took him into custody and he has stayed there ever since.
When Bawa was still being held by the DSS in August without being charged properly, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) threatened to file a lawsuit against President Tinubu’s administration.
Babachir Lawal, a former secretary to the government of the federation, also criticised President Tinubu’s administration on Wednesday for continuing to hold Bawa and Godwin Emefiele, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, without charge.
“It is indefensible to keep the EFCC Chairman and the CBN Governor under arrest for prolonged periods of time without or before trial, just as it is unacceptable that political parties are used to intimidate and harass citizens exercising their rights to free speech in public,” Lawal said in a statement.
One of the individuals told SaharaReporters that “over N580 million has been retrieved” from the jailed former EFCC chairman.
When Bawa refused to write any statements while being held in detention, SaharaReporters said that he was transferred from the secret police’s main office to a private facility where authorities could have complete control over him.
According to information obtained, Bawa refused to make any remarks while being held in jail because he stated investigators the DSS had no authority to hold him without charges.
As a result of Bawa’s refusal to write the statements that were demanded of him, a top security source claimed that “they have taken Bawa from DSS headquarters to one of their private facilities to have total control over him.”
“The imprisoned EFCC chairman has declined to provide statements, telling the DSS that they have no jurisdiction to hold him without charges.
According to a source who spoke to SaharaReporters, “He was also charged with protecting Abdulaziz Yari, the former governor of Zamfara, while assisting him in pursuing his rivals.”
Another trusted source had said, “He has vehemently refused to cooperate with DSS investigators thus far since his imprisonment.
