Magu writes Salami Panel, denies giving Osinbajo N4bn, other allegations – Full letter

ABUJA – Suspended acting National Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has written to Justice Ayo Salami, Chairman of the Presidential panel probing the EFCC.

Magu’s letter written by his counsel, Wahab Shittu (Esq) was submitted to the panel Wednesday morning according insiders familiar with the intrigues.

Magu, according to the letter debunked media reports accusing him of sundry allegations. The suspended acting EFCC chairman denied paying money to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) and Femi Falana (SAN) as alleged in recent media reports.

Addressing the issue of Osinbajo in Magu’s letter, the lawyer said: “Our client strongly denies this falsehood against the respected Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Our client has never given the sum of N4billion or any sum at all to Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN, GCON, Vice President of Federal Republic of Nigeria as wrongly reported. This allegation is complete falsehood designed to tarnish the hard-earned reputation of the Vice President and our client.

On Falana, Magu’s lawyer said in the letter to Salami: “Our client never gave N28 million or any amount to Mr Femi Falana SAN as maliciously reported. Our client also denies any link with a Kaduna-based Bureau De Change Operator as alleged.”

Read the text of Magu’s letter obtained by Newsdiaryonline below:

THE CHAIRMAN,
The Presidential Investigation Committee
On The Alleged Mismanagement Of
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
Federal Government Recovered Assets and Finances
From May 2015 to May 2020.

Attention: Hon Justice Isa Ayo Salami (Rtd)
Gentlemen:
PUBLICATIONS PREJUDICIAL TO THE PROCEEDINGS OF THIS HONOURABLE PANEL
We act as Counsel of Choice to Mr Ibrahim Mustafa Magu, the suspended Acting Chairman of the EFCC hereinafter referred to as “Our Client” and on whose behalf and specific instructions we write as follows:
This is a follow-up to our letter dated 10th July, 2020 on behalf of our client.
Please be advised that the attention of our client has been drawn to serial falsehood publications in the media in respect of matters which never featured in the proceedings of this Honourable Panel.
These falsehood publications being orchestrated in the media include the following:

NFIU SUBMITS REPORT ON MAGU’S FOREX TRANSACTIONS TO PANEL (SEE THE PUNCH OF TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2020)
This report was published in The PUNCH on Tuesday July 14, 2020.
Our client states categorically that he has not been confronted on alleged illegal transactions and no such report was tendered by NFIU in any proceedings before this panel involving him till date.
Our client states categorically that the maximum forex transactions he has been involved in is the sum of $10,000 (Ten Thousand Dollars) till date.
Our client also wishes to place on record that he has no link with Kaduna-based Bureau De Change Operator as erroneously reported in the publication.

ALLEGED N573 MILLION NAIRA DUBAI PROPERTY LINKED TO MAGU
This allegation is outright falsehood and is denied by our client in unmistakable terms. It is instructive to state that the General Overseer of Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministries, Prophet Emmanuel Omale, in a pre-litigation letter addressed to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Monday 13th July, 2020, denied the allegations that he bought a property in Dubai worth N573 million on behalf of our client. Our client challenges his accusers to provide details of such property and proof of ownership by our client. Instructively, The PUNCH at Page 8 of Tuesday July 14th, 2020 had published the denial of Prophet Emmanuel Omale to set the record straight.

ALLEGED DIVERSION OF INTEREST ON RECOVERED FUNDS (SUNDAY PUNCH EDITION OF 12TH JULY, 2020)
This Publication on Front Page of Sunday Punch Edition of 12th of July, 20320 is outright falsehood.
Our client states that all recovered funds are lodged with TSA Account with Central Bank of Nigeria. It is elementary that funds in TSA Account lodged with CBN do not generate interest. It is therefore falsehood to publish that our client placed N500 billion (Five Hundred and Fifty Billion) recovered loot into deposit account. The alleged transaction never featured in the proceedings before this Honourable Panel. Our client was never confronted with any such allegation in the proceedings before this panel and the news is blatant falsehood.

DAY 6: PANEL QUIZZES MAGU ON N700 MILLION TRAINING FUND (VANGUARD, TUESDAY 14TH JULY, 2020)
The allegation that this Panel requested our client to account for the sum of N700 million meant for the commission’s operatives is not true. Our client has not been confronted with such allegation by this Honourable Panel. Our client does not disburse any such funds in the EFCC. The immediate Director of Finance and Administration (DFA) summoned by the Panel must have furnished details on this as the custodian of the funds. Our client denies this allegation completely. Funds earmarked for training was properly utilised by the Commission. The DFA and the Director of Audit will explain the utilisation of the funds meant for training with supporting documentations.

ALLEGED BID TO SPIRIT MAGU AWAY BUSTED (VANGUARD, JULY 14TH 2020 PG. 5)
The allegation that there were plans by some associates of our client to spirit him out of detention as published above is complete fabrication. Since our client has been in detention Nine (9) days ago, he has cooperated maximally with Law Enforcement Agents. Our client is only allowed very few restricted and fully screened visitors. No such incident took place as reported and this is an attempt to bring our client on collision course with the authorities he respects enormously. Our client, as a commissioner of police, will never escape from custody as he remains innocent and a patriotic citizen.