Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has interrogated an assistant controller of Prisons and others over an alleged N300m contract given to some companies owned by Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan.According to an EFCC detective, Mrs. Jonathan allegedly got some contracts to supply beddings and also fence some prisons’ facilities.“We invited some prisons officials including an Assistant Controller, to explain why over N300m was paid into the account of a company linked to Mrs. Jonathan but they could not give us a logical answer.
“All they said was that the contract was for the supply of beddings and for fencing some prison facilities. The process of how the contract was awarded and all that remains a mystery.”
The source said the contracts were allegedly given to some companies that were not registered at the Corporate Affairs Commission.
The EFCC official added, “During investigation, we discovered that some companies traced to Mrs. Jonathan received money based on some questionable contracts. The companies don’t exist in the database of the Corporate Affairs Commission.
“The firms include: Eurorica Concept Limited, Pastorage Vert Limited and Mabelt Construction Limited. These firms received money from the National Information Technology Development Agency, the Nigeria Prisons Service and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.
“Mrs. Jonathan also used the companies to secure contracts to build rural information technology centres across the country. We have not been able to determine all the money involved so far.”
Attempts to speak with Mrs. Jonathan’s spokesman, Belema Meshack-Hart, proved abortive as he did not respond to several telephone calls on Sunday.
However, one of her lawyers, Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), described the allegations as “mere fiction.”
The former first lady has been having a running battle with the EFCC for nearly two years.The anti-graft agency has frozen several bank accounts with a balance of nearly N10bn linked to her and some members of her family.Mrs. Jonathan has written petitions to the National Assembly accusing the EFCC of breaching her fundamental human rights and harassing members of her family.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that Mrs. Jonathan’s younger sister, Mrs. Esther Oba, who was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport shortly after returning from Dubai, had been released by the EFCC.A detective at the commission said, “We have released Mrs. Jonathan’s sister on administrative bail. She has also been asked to return at a later date to give us more information on the role she played in the alleged scam.”
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