TheCable

The offices of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) were vandalised on Thursday night after the presidential panel probing Ibrahim Magu requested for the transaction history of a Kaduna-based bureau de change (BDC), sources familiar with the investigation have told TheCable.

The panel was told that the BDC, which allegedly has links to the suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has recently transacted businesses worth over N500 billion in different currencies — N336 billion, $435 million and €14 million.

However, there was a twist in the tale when the panel asked that the transaction history of the BDC be made available by NFIU, the central national agency that handles disclosures and intelligence in the financial sector.

Its offices were then vandalised, forcing members of the panel to seek audience with President Muhammadu Buhari, who immediately approved the suspension of Magu from office and the overhaul of EFCC security personnel to avoid interference with the investigations.

Magu had been suspended by Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation, since Monday with the tacit approval of Buhari but it was not officially announced.

There is an unresolved controversy on the extent of the supervisory powers of the AGF over the EFCC — which is one of the grievances Malami listed in his memo to the president — but Buhari’s approval has finally sealed Magu’s fate.

The panel, led by Ayo Salami, former president of the court of appeal, was also told that an unknown Lagos-based pastor who is very close to Magu has N573 million in his bank account.

The pastor will be invited and questioned by the panel, TheCable learnt.

Magu was arrested on Monday by a combined team of officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) and force criminal investigation department (FCID) after failing to honour two invitations from the panel.

He has been detained since then and the police authorities on Thursday withdrew his security.

Magu is a commissioner of police by rank.