The EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa said he will not engage in any media trial with Kogi state government since he has obtained the court order that allowed the agency to frozen the account.
The chairman while speaking on Channeltv politics today and monitored by the OBSERVERSTIMES said the decision will be made public after the investigation.
OBSERVERSTIMES recall that a federal high court sitting in Lagos has frozen a Kogi state salary bailout account domiciled in Sterling Bank Plc, over a N20 billion loan obtained from the bank.
Tijjani Ringim, presiding judge, granted the order following an ex parte application brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), pending the conclusion of the investigation or possible prosecution.
The application was brought pursuant to section 44 (2) of the Constitution and section 34(1) of the EFCC Act.
Abass Muhammed, counsel to the EFCC, told the court that the order was necessary so as to preserve the ‘res’ (the fund in question) and abate further dissipation of the funds in the account.
In his submission, Muhammed informed the court that the N20 billion loan meant to augment salary payment and running cost of the Kogi state government was kept in an interest-yielding fixed deposit account with Sterling Bank.
The EFCC counsel said Sterling Bank Plc is yet to present any credible evidence to show that the facility is well secured.
In his ruling granting the application, the judge directed the EFCC to publish the court order in a national newspaper.
