The Kogi State Government has said the order of the Federal High Court in Lagos, freezing the state government accounts was based on blatant lies and falsehood by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to malign the integrity of the administration of Governor Yahaya Bello.
The government further denied operating any Fixed Deposit Account with Sterling Bank, into which it diverted the N19 billion Bailout Fund it received in 2019 for the payment of workers’ salaries.
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Addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo said, the EFCC misled the court to grant the ex-parte order by fraudulently representing to the court that, Sterling bank Account, (0073572696), is a Fixed Deposit Account, operated by the Kogi State government.
Kogi State government said it does not have any N19.3 billion lodged with Sterling Bank, or indeed anywhere else, in a Fixed Deposit Account.
The government said, it at no time gave Sterling Bank any instruction to that effect, pointing out that it has finished disbursing the bailout fund for salaries, as of the 23rd of July, 2019, and that by 31st of August 2021 when the court issued the ex-parte order, the cumulative amount it has in both the salary and bails out accounts with Sterling Bank was a meager N46 million.
To buttress his points, the Kogi State Commissioner for Information presented various bank statements and other salary documents, as evidence of how the bailout fund was disbursed.
He also brought up a cover letter by Sterling Bank dated 1st September 2021, confirming the position of the Kogi State government.
Armed with all of that evidence, the state government said it is still in shock, how the EFCC arrived at the falsehood it used to secure the order, freezing an account that did not even exist and will stop at nothing to take up the matter in court with the anti-graft agency and prove to the world and especially the people of Kogi State, that its hands are clean.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
