The Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, was earlier today invited by the Economic and Crimes Commission (EFCC) over a petition involving a sum of ₦7 billion in a fraud and other sundry cases, the commission’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, has said.
According to Mr Babafemi, the commission was acting on a petition written by a certain group accusingthe speaker of financial malpractices committedin his official capacity. He, however, added that despite the fact that he was still with them, the commission had not concluded any investigation to warrant any claim of arrest or that he would be charged to court.
“He is still with us and he was only invited to answer questions related to the allegations made against him as contained in a petition. So, we are just doing our work and he is still with us,” Mr Babafemi said in a telephone interview.
A news report had earlier claimed that a petition was sent to the EFCC on May 19, 2011, requesting for a probe into the use of the sum totalling over ₦7 billion that Mr Ikuforiji collected as running costs for the Lagos Assembly in just 12 months.
The petitioners, under the aegis of a civil rightsgroup, Kick Against Corruption, claimed in a copy made available to the media then that themoney had been laundered abroad through an automobile company.
The petition which was signed by a lawyer, Olawale Williams, also claimed that the Speaker collected ₦500 million monthly as running costs for the House.
A copy of the petition states that “the initial monthly running costs of the House in 1999 was put at ₦20 million and later jerked up to ₦40 million before the end of the Bola Tinubu administration. This amount the Babatunde Fashola regime also increased to ₦60 million.The cost had, however,been moved up to ₦500million monthly in 2010 by the House of Assembly.(234NEXT)
No comments:
Post a Comment