The immediate past president of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of theft and money laundering.
Sources at the anti-graft agency said Saraki, a former Kwara State governor, was detained on Saturday.
“Yes, Saraki has been arrested. He is going to be released later tonight and ordered to return again tomorrow. He is being interrogated at the Abuja office,” the source disclosed
Timenews reports that Saraki during his tenure as senate president between 2015 and 2019, spent a considerable time facing allegations of corruption and false declaration of assets. He was acquitted by the Supreme Court in June 2018
According information gathered, Saraki is to answer questions over alleged theft and laundering of public funds using a network of cronies and proxy companies.
The suspected proxies, who executed purported contracts for Kwara State under Mr Saraki, allegedly made returns, for many years, to the former governor, forming an organised a network of dirty money flow.
The funds involved were huge, running into hundreds of millions in naira and hundreds of thousands in foreign currencies at various times, sources said.
It was learnt that the Anti-graft investigators have obtained a list of the proxy companies involved and analysed a pattern of suspicious transactions between them and Mr Saraki.
One of them has been reportedly responsible for funding Mr Saraki’s lifestyle, including paying over a hundred million to settle the bills for rent and renovation of Mr Saraki’s Maitama residence, investigation revealed.
Details Later….
