Contrary to some media reports that the chief executive officers of Zenith Bank, Providus Bank and Jaiz Bank were arrested and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, in connection with an alleged fraud in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, THE WITNESS reliably gathered that they have since departed the anti-graft agency office in Abuja.
A source at the EFCC who confided in our correspondent said that the bank chiefs were only invited to hand over documents relating to accounts operated by the ministry to help in its investigation of the alleged financial sleaze.
THE WITNESS reliably gathered from the source that the bank executives left after satisfying the demands of the anti-graft agency.
“It is not true. The bank CEOs were neither arrested nor detained. They were only invited to present some financial documents to assist us in our investigation of the ministry,” the source quipped.
President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, suspended the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and directed investigation into her Ministry.
Edu, who was grilled on Tuesday, by the EFCC, had allegedly directed the disbursement of N585,198,500.00 grant meant for Vulnerable Groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Lagos and Ogun States, into a private account.
