EFCC discovers fresh $37.5m Diezani Lagos mansion

- The EFCC's fresh breakthrough is said to be a 15-storey structure located at Banana Island that comprised 18 flats and six penthouses worth N11.75bn

- The edifice was alleged to have been bought between 2011 and 2012 from a developing company by a lawfirm traced to ex-oil minister Alison Diezani-Madueke

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has announced the discovery of a porperty in Lagos worth a whopping $37.5million totalling N11.75bn which allegedly belongs to former oil minister Alison Diezani-Madueke.

Vanguard reports that the money which was said to allegedly belong to Diezani follows the announcement of acting chairman of the anti-corruption body Ibrahim Magu on Thursday, February 9 that 9.75 million dollars and 750,000 pounds were recovered from a residence in Kaduna state.

The EFCC said Diezani reportedly bought the building in Lagos’ top class location Banana Island between 2011 and 2012 at a total cost of $37.5m from the YF Construction Development and Real Estate.

The commission said: “The aggressive drive by the EFCC to recover all hidden assets of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who is under investigation for corruption and money laundering, produced another breakthrough this week with the discovery of a property acquired through shell companies by the former minister at upscale Banana Island in Lagos.

“The property is a 15-storey edifice comprising 18 flats and six penthouses.

“The property was acquired by the former minister between 2011 and 2012 at a total cost of $37.5m from the developers, YF Construction Development and Real Estate. The property was allegedly acquired in the name of a shell company, Rusimpex Limited under the control of certain Mr. Afamefuna Nwokedi of Stillwaters law firm, in Lagos.”

In 2016, the commission said it seized the ex-minister’s $18m mansion in the Asokoro area of Abuja but Diezani has denied all the allegations levelled against her, saying all the seizures never belonged to her.

Meanwhile, the EFCC has recovered $9.8million in cash from a secret bunker owned by Dr. Andrew Yakubu who is a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

The EFCC made the discovery on February 3 in a building belonging to Yakubu which is located in the slums of Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna.

The anti-graft agency said the former NNPC GMD confessed that the money was his and that it was given to him by unnamed persons.