The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reportedly initiated a manhunt for the officer in charge of the exhibit room at its Kaduna Zonal Office, accused of stealing over $30,000 and other valuable items.
The officer identified as Polycarp, vanished into a thin air when he failed to account for the money, according to DAILY NIGERIAN.
Investigation by the outlet revealed that gold bars worth over N1 billion as well as over $180,000 and about GBP 140,000 were stolen from the exhibit office.
The anti-graft agency had earlier in January, announced that 10 officers in Lagos State Command were detained over theft of operational items they could not account for.
Citing sources, the newspaper reported that the theft was discovered when the zonal director, Kaduna Zonal Command, Benedict Ubi, ordered an audit of the directorate’s exhibit room a few weeks ago, following the Lagos theft incident.
The source stated that when Mr Polycarp got the directive that the exhibit room would be audited, he took an excuse to use the toilet and fled.
“Immediately after the order for the audit was given, he took an excuse to ease himself (use the toilet). Efforts were made to contact him but all his telephone lines were switched off.
“This is only what the preliminary audit on foreign currency shows. There are chances that more could be uncovered after a thorough audit of the exhibit room,” the paper quoted the source to have said.
Meanwhile, a manhunt has been launched to arrest the fleeing staff member.
In 2021, the anti-graft agency dismissed an officer after a leaked audio in which he was heard helping suspects on how their accounts could be unfrozen and charges dropped against them.
The then spokesman for EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, described the officer as “a corrupt fifth columnist with scant regard for the values of the commission,” adding that his action was contemptuous of the Standard Operating Procedure of the EFCC.
“Without prejudice to the outcome of the investigation, snippets of the audio recording clearly showed an abysmally compromised ‘officer’ dropping names to ingratiate his benefactor, a relative of a crime suspect.
“By the alleged action, the said officer is no more than a corrupt fifth columnist with scant regard for the values of the commission.”
On January 6, the commission announced the dismissal of 27 officers from its workforce for various offences bordering on fraudulent activities and misconduct.
When SaharaReporters reached out to EFCC’s Head Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, for comment on the incident on Wednesday, he didn’t answer his calls or respond to a text message.
