Chairman of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, on Wednesday confirmed and narrated how a female Minister serving under the government of President Muhammadu Buhari bought a $37.5 million property from a bank and deposited $20m cash.
Though Bawa did not identity the suspect, sources said the suspect is currently serving under President Buhari.
Speaking while featuring on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, the anti-graft agency boss said resources are being laundered through the real estate sector.
He described the sector as one with grand-scale corruption in the country.
He said, “One of the problems we have in the country is the real estate. Ninety to 100 per cent of the resources are being laundered through the real estate. Of course, they are being regulated but they are not enough in terms of how they give their returns to the Special Control Unit.
“We investigated a matter in which a bank MD marketed a property to a minister and agreed to purchase it at $37.5m. The bank then sent a vehicle to her house to evacuate $20m from her house in the first instance.
“The bank succeeded to put it in their system and paid the developer and then a lawyer set up a special purpose vehicle where the title documents were transferred into and of course, he is posing as the owner of the house.
“Without the help of the banker, the minister couldn’t have imagined collecting $20m from anyone with opportunity from the real sector; she could not have thought of where to launder the proceeds of crime.”
