The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has
secured a court order to hold a detained former Minister of the Federal Capital
Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed.
The EFCC has also granted the former Special
Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Reuben Abati, an administrative
bail.
A competent source in the commission said on
Thursday that the commission decided to secure the order to detain the ex-FCT
minister because the operatives in charge of his case had not concluded ongoing
investigations.
It was stated that the operatives were still
grilling the former minister, who was arrested on Monday.
The source stated, “Today, the commission secured
a court order to detain the former Minister of the FCT, Bala Mohammed.
“Nobody can say exactly when he would be released
because as I said, the man is still undergoing interrogation.”\
The EFCC is investigating the former minister for
alleged fictitious contracts worth N1bn, allocation of 12 choice properties and
37 commercial plots to a suspected front.\
It was learnt that the commission was also
looking into an alleged controversial Abuja land swap deal valued at N1tn.
Prior to the arrest of the former minister, the
commission had interrogated some top directors of the FCT in connection with
the ongoing probe.\
The Director of Treasury, Ibrahim Bomoi; his
counterpart in charge of Land, Babayo Mainasara; the Director in charge of
Abuja Geographical Information Service, Ms Jamila Tangaza; the son of the
former minister, Samshudeen Bala; and one Tariq Hammoud were among those who were
interrogated by the EFCC.
Also, the owners of 16 companies involved in the
deals were said to have been invited for interrogation.
The commission was said to have seized some
houses valued at N872m from the ex-minister and three other duplexes valued at
N225m from the son of the minister.
Meanwhile, the EFCC has granted administrative
bail to the detained former Special Adviser to Jonathan on Media, Dr. Reuben
Abati.\\
A source in the commission, who confided in our
correspondent, said Abati was granted administrative bail by the commission on
Wednesday.
The source added that the commission gave a
condition to the former presidential spokesman to produce a service director in
the Federal Civil Service as a surety, among others.
“The former Special Adviser to former President,
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has been granted an administrative bail.
“He is still struggling to perfect the terms of
the bail. It is the usual bail conditions. He is required to produce a serving
director as surety and submission his passport among others,” the operative
added.
Also, it was gathered that the former Minister of
State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, was still battling to raise N100m to
satisfy the conditions for his bail.
The anti-graft agency is equally preparing to
charge the former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, to court on Thursday,
November 10, 2016.
Source:Punch
Tags
Society