EFCC Detains Delta Accountant-General Over Okowa’s Alleged N1.3tn Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested and detained Delta State’s Accountant General, Mrs. Joy Enwa, as part of its ongoing investigation into the alleged misappropriation of N1.3tn public funds by the state’s former governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.

Okowa was apprehended and detained by the commission in November for allegedly diverting monies from the 13 percent derivation fund allocated to the state.

The EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, speaking to THE WHISTLER on Wednesday evening, confirmed the arrest and detention of Enwa over the ongoing investigation of Okowa.

He told THE WHISTLER that Enwa was released after questioning.

“Yes, the accountant general was arrested and detained by the commission for some days before she was released. We also arrested some officials of the state government but they have been released as well,” Oyewale stated.

According to EFCC spokesman, the former Delta governor and former Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was arrested and detained at the anti-graft office’s Port Harcourt division.

Okowa was accused of looting and acquiring properties worth up to N1.3tn while serving as governor. Some of the assets were shares of UTM Floating Liquefied Natural Gas Company, as well as other oil-related investments.

Earlier, agents of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Asaba arrested former Delta State Accountant General Cyril Agbele, his then-deputy Mrs. Joy Enwa, who is currently the Accountant General, former First City Monument Bank (FCMB) branch manager in Asaba, Mabel Asaije, and a Delta State Board of Internal Revenue employee known only as “Prosper” in 2015 after they were involved in a N369 million scam.

The SCID had said a few days before the then-governor’s term ended, the bank manager, the AG, the deputy AG, and some internal revenue board employees allegedly conspired to defraud the state government of the funds.

EFCC Detains Delta Accountant-General Over Okowa’s Alleged N1.3tn Fraud is first published on The Whistler Newspaper