Inside Multi-Billion Naira Properties Linked To Suspended AGF, Ahmed Idris (PHOTOS)

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has traced not less than 17 properties to Ahmed Idris, the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation, being detained over alleged N80 billion fraud.

The minister of finance and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, had on Wednesday, suspended Idris after following his arrest by the EFCC.

An official of the EFCC, who wished to remain anonymous, said the properties traced to Idris are located in Kano, Lagos, Abuja, Dubai and London.

He, however, said preliminary investigations showed that the nation’s chief accountant allegedly used proxies to buy some of these properties. The commission would therefore need to invite some of the proxies of the accountant-general.

The detective added that from all indications, these properties were purchased while Idris was in office and did not declare them before the Code of Conduct Bureau as stipulated by law.

“About 17 houses in London, Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Dubai have been traced to him. In Abuja, some of the houses are located in serviced estates,” he said.

The EFCC had in a statement on Monday announced the arrest of the accountant-general for fraud to the tune of N80bn.

The statement read in part, “The commission’s verified intelligence showed that the AGF raked off the funds through bogus consultancies and other illegal activities using proxies, family members and close associates. The funds were laundered through real estate investments in Kano and Abuja.”

It was learnt that Idris came under scrutiny last year following allegations that he offered huge sums of money to a family in order to secure the marriage of their 16-year-old daughter.

This newspaper learnt that Mr Idris was still in EFCC custody as of the time of filing this report on Wednesday.

This newspaper also reliably gathered from sources with direct knowledge of the case that some assets believed to be proceeds of Mr Idris’ alleged unlawful activities have been traced.

The sources, who asked not to be named because they had no permission to speak about the case in the press, provided photographs of a sprawling edifice located in Kano allegedly linked to Mr Idris.

Our reporter gathered that the agency has obtained a court order for the arrest of more suspects linked to the alleged crime.

Operatives refused to reveal the identities of the suspects in order not to jeopardise investigations.

An EFCC official said the legal department was already getting an order to remand the accountant-general and get an interim forfeiture on some of his properties pending the completion of investigations.