The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday, preferred 17 money laundering charges against former Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Equally cited as defendants in the charges included a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress( APC), Anyim Nyerere Chinenye, and five companies- Naphtali International Limited, Perfect Finish Multi Projects Limited, Consolid Projects Consulting Limited, Pramif International Limited, and Legend World Concepts Limited.
EFCC alleged that Okorocha who piloted the affairs of Imo state from 2011 to 2019, conspired and diverted public funds to the tune of about N2.9bn. According to the anti[1]graft agency, the defendants committed the alleged offense between October 2014 and February 2016.
It alleged that the defendants sequentially siphoned funds from the Imo State Government House account and Imo State Joint Local Government Project account, and diverted them into accounts of private firms. The charges were filed before the court on a day Okorocha, who is currently the Senator representing Imo West, declared his intention to contest the presidency in the 2023 general elections.
Meanwhile, the court had yet to assign the case to any judge for the defendants to be arraigned. Also on Monday, the EFCC took into custody, the Managing Director of Medview Airline, Mr. Muneer Bankole. He was reportedly detained this afternoon at the headquarters of the EFCC in Jabi, Abuja.
A source familiar with the case disclosed that Bankole, who arrived at the EFCC complex at 11 am on Monday, January 31, 2022, was invited by the anti-graft agency over a case of alleged diversion of 50 percent of funds paid to him by the National Hajj Commission, and additional $900,000 for the airlift of pilgrims in 2019.
He allegedly received the funds as mobilization but did not execute the contract. When contacted, EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the arrest