The former Minister of Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in connection with corruption cases perpetrated during the last administration, the chairman of the anti-graft agency, Ibrahim Magu, said on Monday.
Magu, who spoke during the budget defence session with the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes, added that a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, is also under the EFCC radar.
Kola Aluko, a close associate of the former Petroleum minister, alleged to have helped in taking a large chunk of the nation’s funds out of the country, is also being investigated by the commission.
Magu, who responded to questions by a member of the committee, Hon. Razak Atunwa , on whether the two ex-ministers and Aluko were included in the EFCC investigative list, said “very soon, we will go into the petroleum industry.”
“Such investigation requires that we have to build capacity, we have to bring in experts to enable us tackle what we are doing properly and the investigation must be conducted properly. We have internal lawyers and external lawyers, we have to pay insurance,” he stated.
Magu had earlier in his speech asked the committee to consider and approve additional N500 million to assist the EFCC operational activities as more sectors of the economy may come under investigation during the year.”