By David Olalekan.
The Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, has granted an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking to freeze the bank accounts traced to former Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, pending the conclusion of investigations and possible prosecution of Adewale Adesanya, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Chief of Staff to the former governor.
According to a statement issued by the spokesperson of the anti-graft commission, Tony Orilade, titled, “EFCC Secures Freezing Order on Accounts Linked to Ex-Gov. Ambode over Alleged N9.9bn Fraud”, the said accounts were identified as: First City Monument Bank, Account Number 5617984012; Access Bank, Account Number 0060949275; and Zenith Bank, Account Number 1011691254, respectively.
The statement added that Justice Chuka Obiozor of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, today, ordered the freezing of the sum of N9.9bn traced to Ambode.
The EFCC, had earlier in an affidavit, revealed that “there was a huge inflow of N9,927,714,443.29 from the state accounts into an FCMB bank account opened on September 17, 2018 during the administration of the immediate past governor of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode, and operated by Adesanya.”
The affidavit also disclosed that the schedule of the FCMB account showed how Adesanya and other signatories to the account made fraudulent transfers from the accounts of the Lagos State Government and stashed them in the said accounts.
Recall that some aggrieved members of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had vowed to prevent Akinwunmi Ambode from getting any federal appointment, while fine-tuning plans of dragging the former governor to the EFCC for alleged impropriety.