Bukola Saraki arrested by EFCC for theft, money laundering
Ex-Senate President Bukola Saraki has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of theft and money laundering.
Saraki, who is also a former Kwara State governor was detained on Saturday.
As senate president between 2015 and 2019, Saraki spent considerable time facing allegations of corruption and false declaration of assets. He was acquitted by the Supreme Court in June 2018.
According to Premium Times, in his new case with the EFCC Saraki is to answer questions over alleged theft and laundering of public funds using a network of cronies and proxy companies.
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The suspected proxies, who executed purported contracts for Kwara State under Saraki, allegedly made returns, for many years, to the former governor, forming an organised network of dirty money flow.
The funds involved were huge, running into hundreds of millions in naira and hundreds of thousands in foreign currencies at various times, sources said.
The report also stated that the anti-graft investigators have obtained a list of the proxy companies involved and analysed a pattern of suspicious transactions between them and Saraki.
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One of them has been reportedly responsible for funding Saraki’s lifestyle, including paying over a hundred million to settle the bills for rent and renovation of Mr Saraki’s Maitama residence.