EFCC Seizes Passport Of Joe Agi For Paying $30,000 Into Onnoghen’s Account

by Yusuf ALLI,

THE Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) yesterday seized the international passport of a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), Mr. Joe Agi, who is being investigated
for allegedly paying $30,000 into a domiciliary account of the suspended
Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen. The passport seizure
is aimed at ensuring that he does not leave the country until the
conclusion of his case.

Although Agi was granted bail yesterday
by the EFCC, he has another date with the agency on Monday for further
interrogation, The Nation gathered. Yesterday, detectives continued
their scrutiny of the lawyer’s bank accounts and some documents
retrieved from his residence when a search warrant was executed.

The
EFCC is also on the trail of a vital suspect said to have questions to
answer in respect of the payments into Onnoghen’s accounts. The
suspect’s name is being kept secret for security reasons. A reliable
source who confirmed Agi’s passport seizure said: “one of the conditions
for admitting Agi to bail was the depositing of his international
passport in order to restrict him from leaving the country.

“We have directed him to report to the EFCC intermittently, as may be scheduled, from Monday for more interrogation.

“Although
Agi has made a useful statement, our detectives are currently screening
his accounts following fresh clues with regards to his relationship
with the CJN. “We have demanded for comprehensive details of Agi’s
accounts and transactions which might take time to analyze or clarify
with the suspect.

“The SAN has told our detectives that the CJN
is his brother having come from Cross River State together.” For much of
yesterday, detectives analyzed the documents retrieved from Agi’s Abuja
residence. The source added: “We have isolated some issues for Agi to
respond to when he comes around for another grilling. We are sieving
some documents on which he ought to shed more light.”

Sources
also said the EFCC team was on the trail of another suspect linked with
the deposit. “We are hopeful that we will be able to locate and interact
with this suspect in the next few days, “ the source said. Apart from
the $30000 payment, detectives also said the SAN was Onnoghen’s referee
when the suspended CJN was in the process of opening one of the
domiciliary accounts traced to him.

Agi is the first suspect
linked with some suspicious lodgments in Onnoghen’s accounts, which were
effected between 2012 and 2016. The lodgments, amounting to $3million
in five accounts, were undeclared in the Assets Declaration Form of
Onnoghen.

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit(NFIU) was
mandated to restrict the operation of the five accounts Standard
Chartered Bank coded as USD No. 870001062650; Euro account No.
93001062686; Pound Sterling A/CNo. 285001062679; e-Saver Savings (Naira)
account No. 5001062693; and a Naira A/C No. 0001062667. An
intelligence report on the CJN’s accounts reads in part: “Pattern of
structured payments of $10,000.00 each in 2012.

For example, a
total of $630,000.00 was credited to the accounts using this pattern.
“Similarly structured payments of $10,000.00 amounting to $297,800.00,
$50,000.00 and $36,000.00 were deposited in the account in 2013, 2015
and 2016 respectively.

“There was also a credit of $121,116.00
into the account from 2014 to 2016 from Life Friend Plc. The payments
were in four installments, of $30,279.00 each. These payments suggest
the suspect has investments “A payment at $482,966.00 from Alicia
Redemption Pro and shortly after, $800,000.00 was invested in SCB
Investment subscription. We are in the process of verifying these
transactions; “Other suspicious transactions in the account are credit
of $19,764.00 from Pur of Noble and seven payments of $3,250.00 each
amounting to $22,750.00 from Lloyds TSB. On the pound sterling (GBP),
the investigative team discovered “a self-transfer of £40,268.40 into
the account on May 31 2016.”

“There were also self-deposits by
the suspect of £49,760.00 from July 2015 to September, 2016 but the
balance as at September 30, 2016 was £108,348.00,” the report added.
Regarding the Naira account, the report said: “The following highlights
some of the suspicious activities in the account: A transfer of
N41,262.000.00 ($260,000) was made from the Dollar account.

The
money was used to make payment of N41million to the Ad hoc Committee on
the Sale of Federal Government Houses, suggesting that he bought a
property with proceeds of the transfer; “The only other significant
transactions in the accounts are six structured cash payments of
N500,000.00 each and one payment of N700,000.00 amounting to N3.7million
from November, 2013 to August, 2016.”

Source:- Thenationonlineng