Former secretary to the Federal Government Engineer Babachir Lawal, who is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for corruption, has been released on bail.
Babachir was invited for interrogation over alleged N223million contract scams awarded at some IDP camps in Yobe State, EFCC sources confirmed that he has been allowed to go on administrative bail.
.Acting Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Samin Amaddin, said the former SGF was cooperating with investigators and had made useful statements.
Lawal’s travails began on December 14, 2016, when the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the humanitarian crisis in the North East’ indicted him for fraud. President Muhammadu Buhari then set up a panel headed by Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, to probe the allegations, along with reports that the former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency kept some $43m in an apartment in Ikoyi Lagos.
The former SGF was accused of using his company Rholavision Engineering Ltd to corner an N230 million contract for the clearing of “evasive plant species’’ in Yobe. The contracts were awarded through the Presidential Initiative on Northeast (PINE).
According to the ad-hoc committee, Babachir spent N570 million to cut grass, part of which he awarded to himself. He arrived at the Abuja office of the EFCC at 11:00 am on Wednesday, after which he was detained.
