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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied hiring mercenaries in prosecuting a case of suspected money laundering to the tune of N13.31 billion brought against, Mr Waripamowei Dudafa, a former Special Assistant to former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and officials of four companies involved in the controversial transaction.
Spokesman of the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said on Friday that those arraigned in court were the bona fide persons whose names appeared on the documents of the companies linked to the transaction.
Uwujaren made these disclosures when he called as a guest on Political Platform, a current affairs programme on Ray Power FM, Abuja.
He said there was no evidence in the documents of the said companies to suggest that the former First Lady had any links with the companies, adding that she jumped the gun by going to court to claim the money in the accounts of these companies.
He said it was wrong for people to think that they were trading words with the former first lady as they were still investigating the matter and had not reached the stage of asking her any questions.
“To say that EFCC went to court to use mercenaries, I think t is laughable but the matter is before the court and if she is not comfortable with what happens in court, she has the prerogative to approach the court to seek redress. I think the Nigerian judiciary based on their records can giver justice.
“The facts of the matter is that the Commission has a case which is still under investigation even though some persons have already been arraigned in court. Through intelligence report the Commission got wind of certain transactions masterminded by the prime suspect, Waripamowei Dudadafa, the former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
“In the course of investigating the matter, it came to light that he registered some four companies and it also came to light that the documents used in registering those companies as well as those whose names appeared on the board of the companies were forged.
“The Commission also traced those whose names were used in registering those companies and they denied knowledge that their names were used to float companies even open accounts for those companies. It also emerged that Waripamowei Dudafa got some officials of Skye Bank to open those accounts without even having biometric identification numbers for those accounts. The names of those that were used to open the accounts were not the operators of those accounts.”