Following the report that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had discovered a whopping $9.8m and £74,000 in the house of the ex-NNPC Group Managing Director, Yakubu Andrew, the EFCC have stated that Yakubu asserts that the monies found were gifts.
This was claimed in a statement by the spokesman of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren who also disclosed that the money was found in a fireproof safe.
The statement reads in part, “A special operation conducted by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on 3rd February, 2017 on a building belonging to a former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Andrew Yakubu in Kaduna yielded the recovery of a staggering sum of $9,772,800 and another sum of £74,000 cash,
“The huge cash was hidden in a fire proof safe.”
According to the EFCC, they were tipped off about the situation by a source who claimed that there were “suspected proceeds of crime believed to be hidden in the slums of Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna”.
Uwujaren’s statement continues, “On arrival at the facility, the caretaker of the house, one Bitrus Yakubu, a younger brother to Andrew Yakubu, disclosed that both the house and the safe where the money was found belong to his brother, Andrew Yakubu.
“When the safe was opened it was discovered that it contained the sum of $9,772,800 (Nine Million, Seven Hundred and Seventy Two Thousand, Eight Hundred United States Dollars) and another sum of £74,000 (Seventy Four Thousand Pound Sterling).
“On February 8, 2017, Andrew Yakubu reported to the commission’s Zonal office in Kano and made statement wherein he admitted ownership of the recovered money, claiming it was gift from unnamed persons. He is currently assisting the investigation.”