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Enugu State Government says it has successfully recovered a total amount of N1.27 billion from Mr. Olasijibomi Ogundele, the CEO of Sujimoto Luxury Construction Ltd.
The company is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over claims that money meant for building Smart Green Schools in the state was misused.
The amount that was recovered, which came from money the company had been paid for projects that were supposed to be completed, was officially given to the state government on Wednesday at the EFCC Enugu Zonal Office. This was done using several bank drafts and cheques.
The EFCC Zonal Director in Enugu, Daniel Ise, said that presenting the cheques was in line with the agency’s duty to find, get back, and return public money that was lost because of economic and financial crimes.
He said the recovery came after the Enugu State Government filed a petition, which made the Commission start looking into the matter.
“As of today, we have recovered cheques amounting to N1,234,350,000 and another N50,000,000, making the total N1,284,350,000 for the Enugu State Government,” Ise said.
He credited the progress to the hard work and professionalism of the EFCC officers handling the case.
He, however, said that the handover was not the end of the investigation.
He made it clear that the Commission will keep looking into all parts of the petition to make sure every kobo that’s missing is found and brought back.
He said that if there is proof someone has committed a crime, the EFCC will take legal action against them as required by the law.
“This does not mean the case is over,” he said, adding: “We will examine all parts of the petition to make sure every kobo that belongs to the Enugu State Government and hasn’t been accounted for is found and brought back.”
He also asked contractors to follow the laws that are already in place, especially the Procurement Act.
Receiving the cheques and drafts on behalf of the state government, the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia thanked the EFCC for its professionalism, focus, and determination, even though he mentioned there was a lot of noise and distraction in the public space about the issue.
Prof. Onyia said the recovery showed that the Enugu State government is dedicated to being transparent, keeping track of money, and being accountable.
He also promised that the money found will be used for building projects to make life better for the people in the state.
He said “When there was a mismatch between our goal to use taxpayers’ money for development and the actual results we saw, we turned to the EFCC to help get the funds back. today marks the start of the recovery process, and we’re happy with what’s been achieved so far.”
Enugu govt recovers N1.28bn from Sujimoto as EFCC hands over cheques
