Nigeria’s top accountant arrested by anti-corruption agency

Nigeria’s principal anti-corruption overall body has arrested the country’s accountant typical more than an alleged 80bn naira ($190mn) fraud in relationship with what it said was the “diversion of funds and revenue-laundering activities”.

The nation’s top rated accountant is dependable for monitoring the financial institution accounts of authorities departments and is a person of the most senior officials to be arrested through the administration of Muhammadu Buhari, president considering the fact that 2015.

The Financial and Economic Crimes Fee, in a assertion, reported Ahmed Idris, the accountant typical, experienced “raked off the money as a result of bogus consultancies and other illegal things to do making use of proxies, household users and close associates”. He had continuously refused to respond to the commission’s inquiries, it said. Buhari appointed him in 2015 and reappointed him 4 years later on.

Idris has been taken into custody in the funds, Abuja. He could not be reached for comment.

Buhari was elected president largely many thanks to his popularity for personalized integrity and his guarantee to “demonstrate zero tolerance for corrupt practices”. At an anti-corruption summit in London in 2016, he instructed his audience: “Corruption is a hydra-headed monster and a cankerworm that undermines the cloth of all societies.”

But critics claimed the president had unsuccessful in his marketing campaign in opposition to graft, which has undermined successive Nigerian administrations.

Donald Duke, a former point out governor who ran against Buhari in the 2019 presidential election, cautioned that other officers experienced been arrested to excellent fanfare without having the accusations top to prosecutions.

“Let’s see how this ends. They do these matters and then they forget about about it,” he said. “There’s a whole lot of fuss and then it dies down.”

Duke explained he was pleasantly surprised that the EFCC was “baring some its fangs” in arresting this sort of a senior formal, but extra that, if the allegations against him proved to be true, it was “an utter disgrace”.

Chidi Odinkalu of the Fletcher University of Legislation and Diplomacy at Tufts University, in the US, reported the arrest had appear significantly way too late in the administration of Buhari, who will phase down immediately after elections early up coming year, to have any long lasting importance.

“Maybe I am jaded but I’m not holding my breath for anything at all amazing to happen,” he claimed.

Very last thirty day period, Buhari pardoned two previous state governors who had been efficiently prosecuted by the EFCC for diversion of community cash and fraud respectively.

Buhari experienced established the anti-corruption bar substantial but had unsuccessful to apparent it, Odinkalu stated.

BudgIT, a Nigerian civil culture group that scrutinises government spending, explained the president experienced a short while ago created some development by passing 3 payments, on the proceeds of criminal offense, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism funding. “It is now still left for Nigerians to use this opportunity and see how we can employ these rules,” it reported.

Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC spokesman, advised regional media that his organisation experienced substantially stepped up its action very last yr, securing additional than 2,000 convictions. “We are very happy of the history that we have,” he said.