Ekweremadu To Appear Before EFCC

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will on Tuesday interrogate Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

Ekweremadu will be questioned on some assets linked to him.

The Enugu-born politician is expected at 10am at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) office in Abuja.

A source told The Nation: “We have delivered a fresh letter of invitation to Ekweremadu and he has confirmed the receipt.

“Our detectives are expected to interrogate Ekweremadu on some assets linked with him. The EFCC is suspecting that the assets were acquired with suspicious funds.

“Some of these assets have been located in the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.”

Ekweremadu is said to have omitted some of these properties in his assets declaration form. EFCC detectives are believed to have been on this case in the past nine months.

Some of the apartments, allegedly being probed in the UAE, are EGG1/1/114 and EGG1/1/115 Emirates Garden, Apartment DFB/12/B 1204 Park Towers, Flat 3604, MAG214 and Villa No.148, MAEEN1 The Lakes, Emirate Hills.

Others are: Boulevard 3901, two flats of Burij Side Boulevard, The Signature; and Room 1903, Hotel Downtown.

Those in the UK allegedly include: Flat 4 Varsity Court, Homer Street, WIH 4NW London and 52 Ayleston Avenue, NW6, London.

In the United States, the properties are said to be located in 4507 Stella Street, Bellavida Estate, Kissimmee, Florida; 2747 Club Cortile Circle, Kissimmee, Florida and 2763 Club Cortile Circle, Kissimmee, Florida.

The Federal Government had, in an ex parte application through Festus Keyamo (SAN) on behalf of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIPRPP), listed the affected assets.

Last week, the EFCC and police operatives stormed Ekweremadu’s residence in Abuja.

In a letter, the anti-graft commission asked Ekweremadu to visit 5, Fomela street in Wuse 2 at 10am.

EFCC said it was investigating “case of conspiracy, abuse of office and money laundering”.

But the letter inviting Ekweremadu was dated Tuesday July 24, same day it asked the Enugu-born politician to appear at 10am.

Observers had suggested that it was a ploy to take the lawmaker out of circulation ahead of the Senate heated plenary that witnessed the defection of some All Progressives Congress (APC) members to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).