The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested Ogbonna Orji, 32, the son of former Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji.
According to a statement by EFCC spokesman, Tony Orilade, the younger Orji, 32, was arrested alongside his friend, Kelvin Ilonah, at a night club in Abuja last weekend.
The ex-governor himself had been interrogated last week by the anti-graft agency over alleged money laundering in the sum of N27 billion.
The EFCC explained that it had reason to believe that the governor laundered money through his sons, hence the arrest of Ogbonna.
Orilade disclosed that multimillion naira Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) belonging to Ogbonna and his friend were confiscated by operatives of the commission who carried out the raid.
According to him, “It is in the news that we have been investigating the former Abia governor, Senator Theodore Orji over alleged N27 billion money laundering.
“In the course of investigation, we discovered that he laundered part of the money through his sons. We have been on the trail of some of the purchases made by his son, including the cars the boys allegedly bought.
“Last Friday, we traced one of the cars to a Nite Club in Abuja. In order not to cause panic, we waited until the business of the club was over and when the owner of the suspected car came to enter to take off, we arrested him and his friend, who has a similar brand of car. That was about 5am on Saturday, December 8, 2018.
“The two boys we arrested and while Orji’s car, a Range Rover is valued at about N100 million, Ilonah’s car, also a Range Rover, is valued at about N35 Million.”
He added, “In the course of further interrogation, the two boys led us to their apartment, three flats, and documents retrieved from the apartment showed it was rented for N13 million each per annum.
“Another brand new Prado Jeep, a 2017 model, was recovered from the boys in the compound. The two boys in question gave useful information to the Commission, which is helping in our further investigation.”
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The commission disclosed that reports that it raided the home of Atiku’s son were false, saying that Ogbonna Orji resided in the same building as the Atiku boys.
Orilade added, “We have received several calls and email messages asking us to confirm the arrest of the sons of the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as being alleged in some quarters. Some only said we raided the apartments of Atiku’s sons looking for foreign currencies. This is nothing but another tales by moonlight.
“The EFCC, as a responsible organisation is abreast of the establishment mandate and we shall not deviate from such mandate.
“We never went after Atiku’s sons, neither were Atiku’s sons among the two boys arrested. There is no link whatsoever to Atiku.
“Only last week, the PDP was alleged to have raised the alarm that the Commission blocked, and or freeze the accounts of the vice presidential candidate of the PDP, Peter Obi.
“Again, this was another lie which we immediately punctured as there was no truth in it whatsoever. Till now, only silence has prevailed from the camp of the accusers.”