Sadiya Umar-Farouk, former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development under President Muhammadu Buhari, was granted bail Monday night after a grueling 12-hour interrogation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The commission had on Monday grilled the former minister between 11 am and 11.30 pm.
Farouk who was grilled in the presence of her lawyer, Oladipo Okpeseyi, at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, was asked to write a statement explaining her relationship with a contractor, James Okwete, over the disbursements of the sum of ₦37,170,855,753.44 paid into his bank accounts through agencies domiciled in the ministry.
Punch reports that during the interrogation, which was done in the Operations Room, EFCC headquarters in Abuja, the former minister was shown documents revealing how the monies were moved into several bank accounts belonging to or connected with Okwete.
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“Sadiya was grilled by interrogators from 11 am, and she was released on bail around 11.30 pm (Monday). We aren’t detaining her just as we didn’t detain Halima Shehu, because the investigation is still ongoing.
“However, Sadiya has been mandated to report to the commission every day from tomorrow (Tuesday). She was asked to write a statement explaining her relationship with the contractor, Okwete, and how those monies got into his account.
“She was given access to documents showing how the monies were moved from the ministry’s coffers and deposited into the bank accounts of Mr Okwete,” an EFCC source revealed.
On Monday, Okwete’s lawyer, Chukwuemeka Eze, confirmed that his client had been released by the EFCC.
Eze noted that Okwete was released on administrative bail last Thursday and had been asked to report to the commission daily.
