THE Economic and Financial Crimes  Commission (EFCC), yesterday in a statement made available to The Guardian, declared former Managing Director of Bank PHB, Francis Atuche and wife of detained former Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Bank , Mrs. Anthonia Akingbola, wanted over alleged theft of N56 billion depositors’ funds.

The former Chief Financial Officer of Bank PHB, Ugo Anyanwu, is also wanted in connection with the alleged theft of depositors’ funds in the bank.

A statement from EFCC reads in part: “Patriotic Nigerians who may have useful information on the whereabouts of the wanted persons are urged to kindly send same to any of the EFCC’s offices across the country or the nearest police station.”

The commission explained in the statement that while Atuche and Anyanwu are wanted in connection with the theft of over N8.6 billion form Bank PHB when they held sway as top officials of the bank, Mrs. Akingbola is wanted over her alleged conspiracy with her husband, Erastus Akingbola, to steal over N47 billion from Intercontinental Bank.

The anti-graft agency said it has to come to the decision of publicly declaring the accused persons wanted after an endless search for them and their failure to submit themselves for interrogation and trial over the alleged fraud.

The commission further said that while it will continue its search for the accused persons within the country, it will equally explore its working relationship with other international law enforcement agencies to track down any of  them hiding in foreign countries.

“We wish to state emphatically that contrary to the allegations of double jeopardy, arm twisting and witch hunting by some of the accused persons, the fresh charges against them are distinct from those of money laundering and fraudulent manipulation of bank records over which they are facing trial at the Federal high court in Ikoyi Lagos. They are facing fresh charges of stealing depositors funds which is a predicate offence,” the statement added.

-Guardian

Posted by admin on May 13 2011. Filed under EFCC Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry