EFCC Interrogates Accountant General, Humanitarian Ministry Officials Over Alleged Fraud
The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, has been interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with the ongoing investigations of the alleged fraud in the humanitarian and poverty alleviation ministries.
She was allowed to go home after hours of interrogation at the EFCC Headquarters in Abuja. Also, some staff of the ministry and agencies under it were invited by EFCC.
Some of them were allowed to go home after being quizzed, while others were detained.
The president suspended the minister following a public outcry over her transferring $585 million meant for vulnerable people into the private account of an official of the ministry.
A leaked memo revealed how Edu, in December 2023, allegedly requested Madein to transfer the money from the NSIO account to the UBA account of Oniyelu, the accountant of the Grants for Vulnerable Groups under the Ministry.
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However, the AGF, in a statement, countered the claim by the suspended minister.
She noted 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.
The minister, who was suspended on Jan. 8 by President Bola Tinubu, was last week Tuesday grilled by operatives of the EFCC for more than 10 hours over the alleged fraud in her Ministry.
The N585 million was meant for payment of grants to vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Cross River, and Ogun states.
Halima Shehu, the embattled Co-ordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency, NSIPA, domiciled in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, is also being probed by the EFCC over an alleged N44 billion fraud.
