The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will on Wednesday arraign an ally of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, Abiodun Agbele on charges of N1.2bn fraud allegedly received from government purse.

The money is alleged to be part of the N4.7bn received from the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2015 by Office of the National Security Adviser and his son, Gbolahan through the account of Sylvan McNamara, a company allegedly owned by Obanikoro’s sons.

Obanikoro allegedly flew N1.2bn from the N4.7bn to Akure during the build-up to the governorship election in Ekiti State and handed the sum to Agbele for onward transfer to Fayose.

It was learnt that the EFCC filed the charges against Agbele before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday.

The EFCC had arrested Agbele in Lagos on June 28 and kept him in its custody pending investigations.

However, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, had on July 21 ordered the EFCC to release Agbele from its custody.

Justice Adeniyi in a ruling on the suspect’s bail application said the continued detention of Agbele without being charged to court amounted to “gross violation” of his rights.

The judge awarded N5m as compensation to Agbele for his unlawful detention by the anti-graft agency.

According to Punch, court officials have confirmed that Agbele has now been charged before Justice Dimgba of the Federal High Court and his arraignment slated for Wednesday.

In related news, the EFCC has questioned Agbele’s account officer, Rita Balogun, over the suspicious payments made into his company account domiciled in Diamond Bank.

Balogun, works at the Business Banking Unit of the Ibadan West directorate of Diamond Bank.

She said in her statement of oath that Agbele received over N60m from the Ekiti State local governments funds.

The funds were allegedly paid into his company account, BYKD Consult, with number 0059177132, between February 18 and March 30, 2015. The money was then wired to Affordable Motors.

Agbele allegedly got the funds under the pretext that he was given a contract by Fayose.

Balogun in her statement of oath, said, “On February 18, 2015, he received N18,159,050 from MDG-CGS-LG. On the same day, he received N15,319,850 from the same account. On the same day, he also received N11,238,500 from the same account.

“On February 19, 2015, he debited the account with N40m and transferred it to Affordable/Toyota. On the next day, he transferred N15m to Affordable/Toyota. On March 30, he received N15,704,325 from MDG-CGS-LG.

“On April 1, he transferred N3,195,000 to Fini Insurance Brokers. On April 29, he transferred N5m to his personal account titled Abiodun Agbele. On April 30, he transferred another N5m to his personal account while N2m was on May 15, transferred to his personal account.”

She noted that the account had since been frozen by the EFCC.

Azeez