Abdulrasheed Bawa | Credit: PunchThe Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa has said that the commission has identified about N70 billion fraud perpetrated through the federal government fuel subsidy programme.
The EFCC boss, who spoke today, March 10, in a chat with news men in Lagos, after testifying in an alleged N1.4billion fuel subsidy trial involving an oil firm, Nadabo Energy, said that so far, only about N20 billion of the money has been recovered by the agency.
“We have identified fraud of about N70billion perpetrated through the fuel subsidy.
“So far the commission has recovered N20billion from the N70billion and we are working to recover the rest.”
Abdulrasheed Bawa expressed worry at the slow pace of some of the fuel subsidy trials, even as he assured that the commission will continue to rigorously pursue all it cases in court.
“Yes, we are worried about the slow pace of some of the fuel subsidy cases we charged to court since 2012 when investigations were concluded.
“Criminal trials are guided by statutes and procedures and we will continue to follow them. I have been a witness in this particular trial involving Nadabo Energy for five years and hopefully, we will get a conviction.”
He said that the EFCC is working so tirelessly to arrest an alleged fuel subsidy suspect, Seun Ogunbambo who was arraigned in 2012 but jumped bail and fled the country.
