Andrew Torhile Uchi who is Personal Assistant to Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume is presently in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, assisting interrogators to unravel allegations bordering on corruption, bribery and money laundering to the tune of N10 billion.
Sources in the Commission confirmed that Uchi who has been with the EFCC since Monday, following invitation extended to him upon a petition which detailed the properties he acquired in Abuja, Jos, Makurdi, Gboko and Wannune in Tarka Local Government Area of Benue State, amounting to an over N6 billion.
Sources further said that investigations so far, have revealed that between December 2023 to date, the EFCC have been able to trace about N1.6 billion of the volume of money that was allegedly used in buying porch cars through four new generations banks to nine car dealers in Abuja, Kaduna, Lagos, Jos and Makurdi respectively.
It was also gathered that two Bureau de Change operators are also under investigation by the EFCC over their alleged involvement in the money laundary scam, as most of the funds credited to the embattled Torhile Andrew Uchi, emanated from their companies.
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Further checks indicated that the EFCC is currently working towards getting a court approval to widen the scope of their investigations to the properties in Abuja, Jos and other parts of the country to ascertain the source of the income and how the properties were purchased.
The sources say the embattled suspect, Uchi, is still in the custody of the EFCC and has made some confessions before his interrogators on how he allegedly got the funds which are largely believed to be proceeds from bribes.
Efforts to speak with the spokesperson of the EFCC on the development did not yield positive results as he could not be reached.
Meanwhile, a statement reportedly issued by Joseph Adejoh as “Counsel/Legal Adviser/Media Aide” to the detainee claims that the report of his arrest and interrogation by the EFCC “is false, malicious and targeted at destroying the hard earned reputation of Hon. Uchi. We wish to state categorically that there is no truth whatsoever in the said publication. Therefore, we urge the entire public to TOTALLY DISREGARD the purported article under references as same is not only false but malicious. It remains a fabrication geared towards damaging the reputation of Hon.
Uchi”.
AIT.live had however confirmed from reliable sources within the anti-graft agency that the aide to the SGF has been in custody since Monday. It is apparent that the Commission would have obtained a court order to detain Uchi beyond the timeframe permitted for holding of suspects without arraignment.
(Editor: Okechukwu Eze)
