The North-West zone of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has said it recovered N54,535,651,183.74 and another $622,200.00 (N190.1m) within the last 10 months. It also recovered some properties, which included eight houses, nine plots of land, three trucks and a car.
Talking to pressmen in Kano yesterday, the Zonal Head of Operations (North-West Operations), Mr. Nnaghe Itam said in the last 10 months, that zone of the EFCC dealt with 214 cases, while 34 are still undergoing prosecutions.
He also revealed that the North-West EFCC secured 23 convictions during the period.
The zone comprises Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states.
Itam emphasised that the funds and properties illegally stolen from government, corporations and individuals, were recovered from fraudsters and politicians.
He said the recoveries were made possible following a directive from the Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who directed the zone to look into some complaints over the distribution and diversion of petroleum products during the last fuel crisis in the country.
Itam disclosed that the zone’s investigation into the complaints triggered a refund of N54,393,106,143.00 to the Federal Government by some dubious marketers, who collected petroleum products, sold them but refused to remit money to the government accounts.
The Zonal Head of Operations said: “I will also like to draw your attention to our proactive enlightenment campaigns within the zone in a bid to highlight what we can do to reduce corruption by not joining the corruption chain.
“It is important also to note that government is still the most active driver of the Nigerian economy. Our efforts are largely concentrated in tackling fraud relating to tax revenues within the business community in Kano.
“We have recovered millions of naira for the Federal Inland Revenue Service and are working to ensure that value is derived by government through an appropriate collection of taxes, rates and royalties.’’
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