EXCLUSIVE: EFCC begins probe of APC, PDP officials for money laundering

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for suspected money laundering through their accounts in two banks in Abuja, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.

It is not clear whether the investigation is connected to the ongoing nomination exercises of the parties that have seen high volumes of money moving into the accounts of the parties.

As parties prepare for their primaries for the selection of candidates for the 2023 general election, hundreds of aspirants in the two parties have bought their expression of interest and nomination forms for various offices.

The exercises have generated several billions of naira for the nation’s two major parties with about 28 presidential aspirants paying N100 million each for the APC forms as of Wednesday, while 17 of their counterparts in the PDP obtained the forms for N40 million each.

On Monday, the Head of Operations at the headquarters of the EFCC, Michael Wetkas, wrote a letter, exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, informing the managing directors of Access Bank and Polaris Bank in Abuja that the commission was investigating 14 accounts of the two parties, and another organisation believed to be connected to PDP.

According to the letters, the investigation involves three accounts in Access Bank belonging to the APC, (0692988080, 0035644896 and 0044183689), one owned by the National Secretariat of the PDP (0054586830), and three by Umbrella Trust Ltd (0076600091, 0066988655 and 0068595990).

In Polaris Bank, one of the accounts belongs to the APC (1771444115), two owned by the PDP (1140060876 and 1770319690) and four by the PDP Fund Raising Dinner” (1771643176,177647521, 177164514 and 1771647507).

In the letter, Mr Wetkas said: In the letter, Mr Wetkas said:

“The Commission is investigating a case in which the above-mentioned account names and numbers featured.

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“In view of the above, you are kindly requested to forward the certified true copies of the following:
a. Account opening packages/mandate cards.
b. Statement of account from January 2021 to date (hard and soft copies). The soft copy should be copied to excel format and forwarded to cagomuo@effc.gov.ng.
c. Certificate of identification pursuant to Section 84(4) of the Evidence Act. 2011 (The certifying officer should include his full name, designation, signature and date on each page).
d. Any other relevant information that could assist the investigation.

“The request is made pursuant to Section 38(1) 8(2) of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act 2021 and Section of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2021 as amended.”

The spokesperson for the commission, Wilson Uwujaren declined to comment on the development, saying he had not been briefed.