The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has frozen a bank account belonging to Mrs. Bola Shagaya, a business woman.
Shagaya, who was recently described by Forbes Magazine as one of the wealthiest in Africa, was said to have made suspicious payments of N500m into bank accounts belonging to Patience, who has been under EFCC investigation for about six months.
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bolmus Group International – a diversified Nigerian conglomerate with interests in oil, real estate, banking, communications and photography – had become a subject of investigation due to her links to Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, recently ordered the freezing of some bank accounts belonging to the former First Lady due to the ongoing investigation of alleged money laundering.
Punch quoted sources as saying that the account with Unity Bank that was frozen had a balance of N500m.
According to the source, “When we were investigating Patience and looking into her accounts, we discovered that Bola Shagaya had been making huge and regular payments into her (Patience’s) bank account.
“We then discovered that the monies were kickbacks. The Ministry of Trade and Investment gave suspicious commission to Shagaya’s company on every crude oil sent abroad. The commission was put in an account for Bola Shagaya. The money will then go to Patience’s account. So we started investigating her.
“We were able to trace the N500m to her account at Unity Bank. So, we placed a ‘No Debit Order’ on the account.”
The source said when Shagaya realised that her account had been frozen, she rushed down to the bank and tried to use her position as a board member of the bank to lift the restriction.
The detective added, “When she heard about the restriction, she ran down to the bank to stop the order from being carried out. We then called the bank to let them know that doing such would amount to a criminal conspiracy. At that point, she had no choice.”
When the newspaper contacted her on Saturday night, Shagaya said, “Please, don’t call this number. I am sleeping. Write anything you want to write.”
Also, the Head of Corporate Communications, Unity Bank, Matthew Obiazikwor, is yet to respond to this development.
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