The EFCC has frozen a bank account belonging to Mrs. Bola Shagaya, a businesswoman which Forbes Magazine described as one of the wealthiest in Africa. Shagaya became a subject of investigation due to her links to Mrs. Jonathan.
Sources within the EFCC told Punchng that Shagaya’s account with Unity Bank with a
balance of N500m was frozen.
The business tycoon, who is also the MD of Practoil Limited, one of the largest importers and distributors of base oil in Nigeria, was said to have made suspicious payments into bank accounts belonging to Patience, who has been under EFCC investigation for about six months.
A source at the EFCC said, “When we were investigating Patience and looking into her accounts, we discovered that Bola Shagaya had been making huge and regular payments into her (Patience’s) bank account. We then discovered that the monies were kickbacks.
The Ministry of Trade and Investment gave suspicious commission to Shagaya’s company on every crude oil sent abroad. The commission was put in an account for Bola Shagaya. The money will then go to Patience’s account. So we started investigating her.
We were able to trace the N500m to her account at Unity Bank. So, we placed a ‘No Debit Order’ on the account. When she heard about the restriction, she ran down to the bank and tried to use her position as a board member of the bank to lift the restriction.
We then called the bank to let them know that doing such would amount to a criminal conspiracy. At that point, she had no choice.” Sources within the EFCC also revealed that it foiled a fresh attempt by Mrs. Jonathan to withdraw $5m from her frozen account during the week.
Source: Punch News
