Forces opposed to the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as substantive head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Friday March 24, released a new seven-page letter by the State Security Service (SSS) expatiating on the corruption allegations against the anti-corruption czar.
Premium Times reports that the letter, which was circulated to select Nigerian journalists by a Faceless group, Advocacy Justice, was written by the SSS to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to further push its relentless campaign against Mr. Magu.
One of our editors was among journalists to which the document was sent.
The letter appeared to have been written in response to a request by Mr. Malami that the SSS should provide documentary evidence of its allegations against the acting EFCC chair.
In its response, the SSS, through one Folashade Bello, sent the minister at least 12 documents.
One of the documents contained minutes of the 20th plenary meeting of the Police Service Commission in 2010 which reportedly reprimanded Mr Magu.
NAIJ.com gathered that the eleven other documents simply laboured to link Mr Magu to Mohammed Umar, a retired air commodore being investigated by the SSS.
The documents were however not released alongside the cover letter discreetly circulated Friday.
The letter appeared to have been circulated to further embarrass Mr. Magu and possibly pressure President Muhammadu Buhari to remove him from his post.
The letter was undated.
The SSS, in controversial reports to the Senate, claimed Mr. Magu is tainted and should not be confirmed to head the nation’s top anti-corruption body.
The Nigerian Senate agreed and has, twice, declined to approve his appointment, a move that has drawn widespread condemnation across the country.
But the EFCC acting chair has forcefully responded to the allegations against him, saying the SSS is integrity-challenged.
The root of the DSS report against Magu was what it claimed as his unusual relationship with Air Commodore Mohammed Umar (rtd.), a suspect being prosecuted by the DSS. Umar and Magu were earlier members of the Presidential Committee on Audit of Arms Purchase.
Backing up earlier claims made against Magu, the DSS in the report said it provided a copy of the confessional statement by Air Commodore Mohammed Umar (rtd.), a suspect being prosecuted by the service.
“The statement affirms his ownership of Valcour S.A. Nigeria Limited, a company awarded the contract of securing and furnishing an official residence for Ibrahim MAGU by the FCTA. Investigation revealed that this was facilitated after MAGU was earlier shown the residence by,” a man the DSS claimed is a close business associate of UMAR, who was introduced to MAGU by the former.
The DSS also presented what it claimed was a forged Memo which supposedly originated from the Office of the Vice-President and addressed to Mr. President. This was according to the report recovered from the private residence of UMAR during a search operation by this Service.
The document was a request for approval to commence further investigation into the financial activities of a serving minister from the Niger Delta. The DSS also forwarded another annexure being a letter from the Office of the Vice-President affirming that the annexure supposedly from the office was a forgery.
"Annexure E was a copy of “Progress report with reference number SH/COS/24/A/7277 dated 25th May, 2016 on NNPC/NLG Brass Investment Accounts in Nigerian Commercial Banks from Chief of Staff to Mr. President, Abba KYARI to the Acting EFCC Chairman.
The letter is an official/classified document of the EFCC which was duly received by the Commission as indicated by the stamp on the document. However, it was recovered at UMAR’s residence.”
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