The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said it raided The Sun Newspapers to ascertain the state of the assets which is subject of subsisting interim forfeiture order.

In a statement by its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, the agency denied raiding the firm because of its issues with the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu.

The statement read in part, “Operatives of the EFCC in the early hours of June 12, 2017, visited the head office of the Sun Newspaper in Lagos. The visit which lasted for less an hour was part of routine efforts to ascertain the state of the assets of the publishing company which is subject of subsisting interim forfeiture order.

“Prior to the visit, the commission had written to the management of the company to account for its management of the assets for the period of the subsisting court order.

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“The commission still awaits the response of The SUN and will not be distracted by any attempt to whip up sentiments by alluding to an appeal which has been pending for ten years. The commission’s action is without prejudice to any appeal and only meant to verify the integrity of the assets.”

The EFCC denied allegations that it harassed and molested staff of the newspaper.

The statement added, “Contrary to claims in a statement released to the media by the management of The SUN, no employee of the media outfit was molested or intimidated for the few minutes that operatives of the commission spent in the premises of the company.

“The claim that ‘EFCC operatives subjected our staff to crude intimidation, psychological and emotional trauma, even as some of the men accused our organisation of publishing pro-Biafra, Boko Haram, and Niger Delta Militant stories,’ is strange and clearly the figment of the imagination of the Sun.”

Azeez