Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Lagos said they have found a hotel being constructed by Governor Yari of Zamfara state with $3m he stole from London-Paris Club loan refund to Nigerian states.
The governor who is the chairman of the Governor’s Forum illegally diverted N19billion reportedly meant for “consultants” from the Paris club loan refund which had been illegally paid into the account of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) by Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to SR, the hotel is a 100-room property situated in Lekki area of Lagos.
EFCC officials said they have already marked down the hotel as proceeds of corruption and plan to take it over after obtaining a court order.
Apart from the $3million, Governor Yari also diverted N500 million from the Paris Club refund to pay off a loan, an EFCC source revealed to SR.
According to the source, Governor Yari withdrew N500m from the N19 billion Paris Club refund from the account of Nigeria Governors Forum from the N522b allocated to the 36 states and deposited the sum into a mortgage bank account.
Yari then transferred the sum to the mortgage bank from which he had borrowed N800m to purchase to properties in 2013. According to the source, the governor was able to renegotiate his debt from N800m to N500m.
Overall the governor is said to have embezzled the sum of N2.2 billion from the N19billion set aside illegally to pay “consultants.”
SR had earlier revealed that Senate President Bukola Saraki and his cronies are also being investigated by the EFCC for his role in the embezzlement of N3.5b from the Paris Club loan through the slush fund placed at the Access Bank by the Nigeria Governors Forum, who claimed it was meant for consultants.