Magu did not misappropriate NNPC funds, says Lawyer

The legal team of the suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has been responding to some of the allegations against him especially those bothering on the alleged diversion of funds recovered by the Commission.

Mr Magu’s lawyer, Wahab Shittu in a statement to Channels Television said the EFCC under Mr Magu’s watch never misappropriated any funds recovered for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), describing such reports as false.

He explained that the well over 329 million naira recovered by the EFCC was remitted directly into NNPC dedicated accounts via remitta under a special arrangement endorsed by the NNPC, EFCC, and the affected NNPC marketers.

The lawyer further noted that the remittances can be independently verified both at the NNPC and the EFCC records and that the issue of NNPC recovered funds never featured in the proceedings of the presidential panel.

Other allegations that Mr Shittu dispelled include that of assets declaration and failure by Mr Magu to properly explain the rationale for the exclusion of culprits in the alleged misapplication of three billion naira in the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). He described the allegations as fraudulent and deliberate attempts to malign Mr. Magu.