Kogi Salary Account Frozen Over 20Bn Bailout Fund

A federal high court in Lagos State froze a Kogi State salary bailout account domiciled in Sterling Bank Plc, due to N20 billion loan obtained from the bank.

EkohotBlog reports that the Presiding Judge, Tijjani Ringim, granted the ex-parte application of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), pending the outcome of investigations. The application was filed in pursuant to section 44 (2) of the Constitution and section 34(1) of the EFCC Act.

Counsel to the anti-graft agency, Abass Muhammed, debated in court that the order was necessary so as to preserve the ‘res’ (the fund in question) and abate further dissipation of the funds in the account.

In the argument of Muhammed, he intimated to the court that the N20 billion loan was meant to augment salary payment and the running cost of the Kogi state government was rather kept in an interest-yielding fixed deposit account the bank.

The EFCC counsel stressed further that Sterling Bank Plc has not presented any credible evidence to show that the facility is well secured.

In his ruling, the presiding judge; Tijjani Ringim granted the application of the anti-graft agency and directed them to publish the court order in a national newspaper.

The judge also tasked the agency to make a quarterly report to the court on the progress of its investigation, and adjourned the matter till December 1, for the report of investigation.