The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission; EFCC, says it is currently probing 50 bank accounts where it had recovered N30bn in the alleged scandals in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, who disclosed this in an interview published in the March edition of EFCC Alert, an in-house magazine of the anti-graft agency, also called for special courts for corruption cases.

Olukoyode, said the recovered fund was in the Federal Government’s coffers.

The EFCC is currently investigating alleged scandals in the humanitarian affairs ministry involving the suspended minister, Betta Edu, her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, and Ms Halima Shehu, the National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme, an agency under the humanitarian ministry,

In January, Edu was suspended by President Bola Tinubu following an alleged fraud in her ministry.

She was subsequently interrogated by the EFCC after a leaked memo revealed that the suspended minister directed the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer N585m to a private account owned by one Oniyelu Bridget, who the ministry claimed currently serves as the Project Accountant, Grants for Vulnerable Groups.

The minister had claimed that the N585m payment was meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun, and Lagos states, describing the allegations against her as baseless.

The Media Assistant to the minister, Rasheed Olarewaju, said in a statement that it was legal within the civil service for such payments to be made into private accounts of staff members, especially project accountants.

Edu’s predecessor, Umar-Farouq, was also quizzed by the EFCC investigators in January in connection with the probe into the N37.1bn allegedly laundered during her tenure in office, through a contractor, James Okwete.

Apart from Edu and Umar-Farouq, the National Coordinator of the NSIPA is similarly being probed over alleged scandals in the ministry.

Shehu was arrested and questioned by the EFCC in connection with the movement of N44bn from the NSIPA account to some suspicious private and corporate accounts within the last four days in December 2023.

Giving an update on the probe, the EFCC chairman stated, “We have laws and regulations guiding our investigations. Nigerians will also know that they (Edu and Shehu) are already on suspension and this is based on the investigations we have done, and President Bola Tinubu has proved to Nigerians that he is ready to fight corruption.

“Moreover, with respect to this particular case, we have recovered over N30bn, which is already in the coffers of the Federal Government.

Olukoyode, in the publication obtained by The PUNCH on Monday, said the recovered fund was in the Federal Government’s coffers.

The EFCC is currently investigating alleged scandals in the humanitarian affairs ministry involving the suspended minister, Betta Edu, her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, and Ms Halima Shehu, the National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme, an agency under the humanitarian ministry,

In January, Edu was suspended by President Bola Tinubu following an alleged fraud in her ministry.

She was subsequently interrogated by the EFCC after a leaked memo revealed that the suspended minister directed the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer N585m to a private account owned by one Oniyelu Bridget, who the ministry claimed currently serves as the Project Accountant, Grants for Vulnerable Groups.

The minister had claimed that the N585m payment was meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun, and Lagos states, describing the allegations against her as baseless.

The Media Assistant to the minister, Rasheed Olarewaju, said in a statement that it was legal within the civil service for such payments to be made into private accounts of staff members, especially project accountants.

Edu’s predecessor, Umar-Farouq, was also quizzed by the EFCC investigators in January in connection with the probe into the N37.1bn allegedly laundered during her tenure in office, through a contractor, James Okwete.

Apart from Edu and Umar-Farouq, the National Coordinator of the NSIPA is similarly being probed over alleged scandals in the ministry.

Shehu was arrested and questioned by the EFCC in connection with the movement of N44bn from the NSIPA account to some suspicious private and corporate accounts within the last four days in December 2023.

Giving an update on the probe, the EFCC chairman stated, “We have laws and regulations guiding our investigations. Nigerians will also know that they (Edu and Shehu) are already on suspension and this is based on the investigations we have done, and President Bola Tinubu has proved to Nigerians that he is ready to fight corruption.

“Moreover, with respect to this particular case, we have recovered over N30bn, which is already in the coffers of the Federal Government.