In line with the determination of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC to recover the slush funds used for the 2015 presidential election, the Commission has arrested one Austin Umahi, brother to the current governor of Ebonyi State, Chief David Umahi along with two others: Chinyere Egwuche and Mabel Dikibo over a N400, 000, 000 slush fund linked to 2015 Presidential Campaign of the Peoples Democratic party.
An EFCC source said the suspects, all staff of Brass Engineering & Construction Nigeria Limited and Osborn La-Palm Royal Resort, were arrested on Monday, August 29, following refusal to collect and honour invitation by the EFCC, for questioning in an ongoing investigation involving both companies.
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The EFCC source explained that while Austin Umahi doubles as the chairman of both companies, Chinyere Egwuche and Marbel Dikibo are also signatories to the companies’ accounts.
He noted that “investigations by the Commission revealed that the sum of N400, 000, 000 was released by the Director of Finance, PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Senator Nenadi Usman, to PDP Ebonyi State, for the 2015 presidential election, but the said fund was moved from Fidelity Bank Abakaliki on March 27, 2015, where it was initially deposited to an Access Bank Abakaliki account, where one Maxwell Umahi further moved N100, 000,000 and N300, 000,000 respectively into the accounts of Brass Engineering & Construction Nigeria Limited and Osborn La-Palm Royal Resort respectively.
“One of the suspects, Chinyere Egwuche subsequently withdrew the N300 million paid into the account of Osborn La-Palm, which according to her was used to finance further construction of Osborn La-Palm Hotels in Abakaliki, Uburu and Port – harcourt, while the N100 million paid into the account of Brass Engineering & Construction Nigeria Limited was transferred to a certain David Umahi Faith Foundation.”
The source further noted that though investigation is still ongoing, the above mentioned companies have been traced to the Ebonyi state Governor.