Mr. Badeh was arrested in January for the non-specification of procurement costs, absence of contract agreements, award of contracts beyond authorized thresholds, transfer of public funds for unidentified purposes and general non-adherence to provisions of the Public Procurement Act.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has traced seventeen accounts to former Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh.
Mr. Badeh was arrested in January for the non-specification of procurement costs, absence of contract agreements, award of contracts beyond authorized thresholds, transfer of public funds for unidentified purposes and general non-adherence to provisions of the Public Procurement Act.
The seventeen accounts linked to Mr. Badeh have since been frozen, according to the EFCC.
A detective from the EFCC said that Mr. Badeh has not been cooperating with the anti-graft agency and has refused to return stolen funds, unlike the immediate past Chief of Air Staff, Marshal Adesola Amosu.
“Amosu has been cooperating with us and has been returning funds. However, Badeh was very stubborn. Since he refused to return funds, we took him to court,” the detective said.
He added that the EFCC continued to investigate Mr. Badeh even after he was charged.
According to Air Commodore Salisu Yushau, the former Director of Finance and Accounts at the Nigerian Air Force and a witness for the EFCC, all past air chiefs diverted N558.2m each month from funds meant for the payment of Air Force officials’ salaries.
A source at the EFCC stated that the Nigerian Air Force could still be diverting funds.
“We believe that even after Amosu had left, they still shared money. We were told that even in February, these illegal deductions were still made. In due course, our findings will be made public.”