EFCC traces N1bn property to former Bayelsa gov

A competent source in the commission told Saturday Vanguard last night that the property which worth over N1 billion were traced to companies owned by Sylva.

The source said that the property, which are located in choice areas of Abuja, were discovered in the ongoing investigation into how Sylva looted Bayelsa during his tenure as the governor of the state.

The source added that the anti- graft agency had also uncovered a network of fronts through which the former governor acquired choice property in major cities especially Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

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One of the properties linked to the former governor is a duplex valued at N310m situated at Cachez Estate, Mpape, Abuja while the other is a mansion valued at N700m located off Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent in high brow Wuse 2, Abuja. The Wuse mansion was acquired in the name of Marlin Maritime Limited, a company owned by Timipre Sylva.

The managing Director of the Company, Gbenga Balogun, is said to have fled as EFCC operatives closed in on him in the course of investigation of the Sylva era in Bayelsa, during which billions of naira is said to have been looted by him and his officials. In spite of the escapee of the fronts, the operatives of the commission are reported to be working round the clock to arrest the culprits and bring them to account for the public funds. Several accounts have already been traced to the front (name withheld) who allegedly opened many of them in his name using different passport photographs.

The front, (name withheld) is currently on the run. Meanwhile, Sylva is already standing trial before a Federal High Court in Abuja on a six-count charge bordering on fraud and money laundering. But in a swift reaction, the spokesman for Timipre Sylva, Mr. Ola Doife, challenged EFCC to stop trying the former governor in the media but to collate any evidence at its disposal and present it in court since the matter was already pending.

 Doife maintained that Sylva remained innocent of the charges until proved otherwise by a competent court of jurisdiction in the land.