Ibrahim Magu

The suspended chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has described as false claims that he re-looted the N550 billion recovered by the agency from corrupt individuals.

Magu, who has been answering questions from a presidential panel set up to probe activities of the anti graft agency under his leadership headed by Justice Ayo Salami since last Monday also explained why interests cannot be paid on the deposited N550 billion.

Contrary to the reports on the issue, the suspended anti graft czar also said the issue of the N550 billion did not come up before the Ayo Salami panel in a statement by his lawyer Wahab Shittu as reported by The Nation newspaper

According to Magu, the recovered money cannot generate interest since it is kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The statement said: “It is falsehood that Magu placed N550 billion recovered loot into a deposit account.

“To the best of Magu’s knowledge,  no such amount is in any such account and he remains aghast at such outrageous figures. No one has confronted Magu with such allegations.

“All recovered funds are lodged in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Such recovered funds do not generate interest. This is elementary and can be verified from the CBN and the federal ministry of finance.

“This can also be confirmed from other government revenue generating agencies. Funds kept in TSA account do not generate interest.”