Betta Edu: EFCC grills AGF over N585m humanitarian ministry scandal

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has interviewed the Federation’s Accountant General, Oluwatoyin Madein, regarding an alleged involvement to a N585.2 million scam involving suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Dr Betta Edu.

On Monday, EFCC interrogators questioned the AGF at the agency’s headquarters in Jabi, Abuja.

According to details gathered by our journalist on Tuesday, Madein was interrogated for more than six hours before being released without condition in the evening.

An impeccable anti-graft source, who confirmed the development to our correspondent, revealed that she was queried over the payment of N585.2m of government funds from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs into the private bank account of a government official.

The source said, “The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, has been invited and interrogated by the commission. She was grilled for over six hours on Monday over the payment of N585.2m from the National Social Investment office account to the UBA account of Bridget Oniyelu, the accountant of the Grants for Vulnerable Groups under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.

However, the AGF, in a statement, countered the claim by the suspended minister, while noting that allocations were released to self-accounting MDAs in line with the budget and such MDAs were responsible for the implementation of their projects and payments for such projects.

Edu was last week Tuesday grilled by operatives of the EFCC for over 10 hours over alleged N585m fraud in her ministry. She was suspended on Monday, January 8, by President Bola Tinubu, and is being accused of paying the humanitarian fund into a private account.

Also, Halima Shehu, the embattled Co-ordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency domiciled in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, is being probed by the EFCC over an alleged N44bn cash fraud.

 

(Punch)

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