N1.5 billion has been traced to the account of the son of a former Minister of Finance, a bureau de change operator, Salisu Umaru has revealed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The Nation reports that the identities of the former minister and his son were kept under wraps, ‘so as not to jeopardise the investigation’.
The N1.5 billion paid into the account of the minister’s son in two tranches, is reported to be part of the $2.1 billion diverted arms deal funds.
Salisu was quoted to have said that he never knew the purpose of the cash received from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
He was quoted to have said: “I was invited by EFCC and when I reported, I was shown my company’s account statement with Zenith Bank called Jabama Ada Global Nigeria Limited in which there was an inflow of N500million on 5/2/2015 and N1billion on 16/4/2015 into the account from the Office of the National Security Adviser.”
“On the inflow of N500million into my company’s account on 5/2/2015, I wish to state as follows : That on the same date(5/2/2015), I paid the equivalent of US$2,380,952 to the son of the minister, being the equivalent of the said N500million at the rate of N210 per dollar.”
“I do not know what he used the money for. My own business is to buy and sell dollars. It is only the minister’s son that can explain what the money was meant for. The minister’s son signed and collected the said N500million.”
“On the N1billion inflow into my company’s account on 16/4/2015, I wish to say the money was disbursed as follows: $1,000,000, being the equivalent of N220million; and $327,000 (equivalent of N72,600,000) were paid cash to the son of the minister while the sum of N704,400,000 was transferred to various accounts based on the instruction of the minister’s son. He gave some of the instructions through text messages. Some of the instructions were also received from the father.”
“I also want to state that I do not know what the N1billion was meant for and what it was used for.”
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