A house of representatives committee has queried Ahmed Idris, the accountant-general of the federation, over an alleged illegal withdrawal of N19 billion.
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Bawa stated this on Friday when he appeared before the house of representatives ad hoc committee investigating recovered loot.
In 2019, a federal high court in Lagos ordered the permanent forfeiture of $40 million worth of jewellery seized from Alison-Madueke.
Some items from the jewellery seizure include “419 bangles, 315 rings, 304 earrings, 267 necklaces, 189 wristwatches, 174 necklaces and earrings, 78 bracelets, 77 brooches, and 74 pendants”.
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At its sitting on Friday, Adejoro Adeogun, chairman of the committee, queried Bawa for not auctioning the assets to fund the budget.
“If you have assets that are worth N14 billion and some of them could be deteriorating assets, we need to be sure they need to be in a fit and proper state. We need to know the status of these assets,” he said.
Udora Orizu in Abuja
The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on assessment and status of all recovered loots has directed the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, to furnish it with a summary of all transactions made from the recovered loot accounts since 2002.
The Committee also invited the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to appear before it on June 3, 2021 to properly reconcile all recovery accounts.
This was as the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, told the lawmakers she had no information concerning the recovered £4.2 Ibori-linked loot from the United Kingdom.
The Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed has revealed that the government has been borrowing from recovered loots to fund the budget.
The minister also revealed that the government has not been able to repay back the loans taken so far.
She revealed this while appearing before the House of Representatives committee investigation recovered loots on Thursday.
The minister appeared alongside the Accountant General of the federation, Ahmed Idris.
The lawmakers condemned the withdrawals from the accounts without the funds being transferred to the consolidated account.
A member of the committee, Wole Oke said the government withdrew N19 billion from the EFCC recovery account and transferred it to the African Development Bank (AfDB) with evidence of budgetary allocation.