The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has frozen a bank account belonging to
Mrs. Bola Shagaya, a businesswoman which Forbes Magazine described as one of
the wealthiest in Africa.
It
was learnt that Shagaya, who is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bolmus
Group International – a diversified Nigerian conglomerate with interests in
oil, real estate, banking, communications and photography – had become a
subject of investigation due to her links to Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife
of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Sources
within the EFCC said that Shagaya’s account with Unity Bank with a balance of
N500m was frozen.
The
business tycoon, who is also the Managing Director 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.”
The
source said when Shagaya realised that her account had been frozen, she rushed
down to the bank and tried to use her position as a board member of the bank to
lift the restriction.
The
detective added, “When she heard about the restriction, she ran down to the
bank to stop the order from being carried out. 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.”
When
contacted on Saturday night, Shagaya said, “Please, don’t call this number. I
am sleeping. Write anything you want to write.”
The
Head of Corporate Communications, Unity Bank, Matthew Obiazikwor, could not be
reached for comments as his phone line was switched off and a text message sent
to him had not been responded to as of the time of filing this report.
Source:Sunday
Punch
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Society