Leadership (Abuja)
George Agba
12 November 2009
Abuja — The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen the bank account of Senator Nicholas Yahaya Ugbane and that of Hon. Ndudi Elumelu over the alleged N5.2bn rural electrification contract scam.
The anti-graft agency also froze another batch of 153 bank accounts of companies allegedly involved in the scam following an order obtained from Justice Anwuri Chikere of the Federal High Court Abuja . Ugbane, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on Power, had his account frozen along with that of his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Elumelu and four others. The companies were those which allegedly benefitted from the unexecuted projects that were paid for by the federal government-owned Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
Senator Ugbane and Hon. Elumelu were alleged to have conspired with officials of REA to award the contracts to their cronies during the execution of their oversight functions. Detailed analysis of the frozen accounts showed UBA having the largest of 37 with Zenith Bank coming second with 20 accounts. Finbank Plc had 19 accounts frozen while Diamond Bank has 15, Intercontinental Bank 11, Oceanic Bank 10, while Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) and Unity Bank have six each. The breakdown also showed that Fidelity Bank has five, Eco bank three, Spring Bank and Sterling Bank two each while Wema Bank and Bank PHB have one account each frozen.
The frozen company accounts were allegedly opened for the contract scams by the 153 indicted companies and got their payment therein. EFCC lead counsel, Mr. Gowin Obla, said the accounts were frozen to protect the federal government fund paid into them by the indicted contractors and the affected public officeholders. Senator Ugbane, Elumelu and Paulinus Igwe, both in the House of Representatives, are facing trial by EFCC over their alleged involvement in the contract deals.
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