Corrupt funds: EFCC has not contacted Nwagwu personally ― lawyer

Following reports that Mrs. Ibekaku Nwagwu has benefited illegally from corrupt funds at the Federal Ministry of Justice in 2011, her lawyer, Atuegwu Okafor, Esq, on Friday, cleared the air that she had not been contacted personally by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) over the issue.

According to the statement: “We have read with profound dismay a publication by an online media, in which it alleged that Mrs. Nwagwu was indicted illegally and benefited from corrupt funds. We have conferred with Mrs. Ibekaku Nwagwu and hereby state unequivocally that the publication is false in its entirety.”

A statement by Okafor, Esq, a copy of which was made available to Tribune Online, in Abuja, said there was no iota of truth in the publication that alleged that EFCC had claimed that Mrs. Nwagwu benefited from funds that was gifted to the Federal Ministry of Justice in 2011.

The statement said: “Since reading that report, we have made efforts to find out the source of the information as we only became aware of such story on the pages of the newspaper. The EFCC is yet to inform Mrs. Nwagwu of how she benefited personally from the funds and why her name was mentioned in a document that does not reflect the work she did for the Federal Ministry of Justice.

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“It is important to put on record that Mrs. Nwagwu was only an Adviser to the Federal Ministry of Justice on Justice Reform in 2011 as she was on leave of absence from EFCC, her primary place of assignment. She was also providing support through the British High Commission to the Federal Ministry of Justice. She was never a staff of the Ministry of Justice. All her work was geared towards providing training to various departments in the Federal Ministry of Justice. She was also tasked with developing Justice Reform Plans for the Federal Ministry of Justice. She never had any approving or accounting role and therefore could not have benefitted from any fund personally.

“It has become necessary to reiterate that Mrs. Nwagwu was not a party to the said suit and at no point was she indicted by the Court.

“We have read through the record of proceedings and Judgement of the court and nowhere was Mrs. Nwagwu mentioned in the whole process. The issue of responding to Freedom of Information requests is the responsibility of the Freedom of Information Unit of the Federal Ministry of Justice which they have executed based on the order of the court.

“The said court ruling is annexed to this letter. At no point was Mrs. Ibekaku’s name mentioned. It is also on record that a daily newspaper (not Saturday Tribune) that first reported the false information withdrew their report and apologized to Mrs. Ibekaku.

“We shall be taking necessary legal actions to protect her person, her family, and hard-earned reputation.” The statement read.