We are not broke, says EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has dismissed as "gross misinterpretation", some newspaper reports that it was broke.

Commission's spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren in an official communication Wednesday, stated that comment credited to the Secretary to the Commission, Mr Emmanuel Adegboyega Aremo, that the EFCC had less than N2 million in its coffers was a misrepresentation of what Aremo explained to the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes on the Bill to establish the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency.

"The mention of N2million by Aremo was not in respect of the total financial health of the EFCC, but a direct response to a remark by the Chair of the Committee, Senator Victor Lar, to the effect that his committee had observed during an oversight visit to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) that it has no power generating set while its ceiling had caved in".

"To this, Aremo remarked that the Commission had complained to the Committee during the visit on the state of its finances and that the situation has not improved. The comment has no bearing whatsoever on the operations of the Commission", Uwujaren said.

Meanwhile, a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has convicted one Suleiman Abdul for illegal dealing in Petroleum product. Justice U.N Agomoh convicted the accused and sentenced him to two years imprisonment on each of the two-count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The court also ordered that the truck with registration number XA 179 MWA containing 33,000 litres of petroleum product be forfeited to the Federal Government.

According to Uwujaren, Suleiman was arrested on January 16, 2007 by the Anti-Vandalization Squad of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, River State Command and subsequently handed over to the EFCC for further investigation and prosecution.

Upon his arraignment, one of the charges preferred against him reads, “that you Suleiman Abdul, and one Charles now at large on or about the 16

th day of January, 2007 at Eleme-Obigbo  Expressway, Port Harcourt within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did conspire with one another to commit felony to wit: dealing in Petroleum  Product without appropriate licence and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 3 (6) 0f the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M 17 of the Revised Edition ( Laws of the Federation of Nigeria) Act 2007 and punishable under Section 1 (17) of the same Act”.