Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Nigeria's South-east Abia state operated 59 local and and foreign bank accounts while in office, using them to siphon millions of naira in public funds for personal use, according to an affidavit attached to charges against the former governor.
The accounts were in the names of companies owned by the former governor and his cronies, and included 8 in the US and Senegal.
Investigations conducted by the anti-graft Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is currently trying Kalu and four other former state governors, showed that he (Kalu) also had three vessels and landed properties in some parts of the country.
Kalu, who was a presidential candidate under the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in April's general elections, also had interests in banks in The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
His airline, Slok, is based in The Gambia, where he has also acquired other properties including the Tiangi Holiday Resort, an estate and First International Bank.
The former governor is also the owner of the popular local tabloid, The Sun.
Details of the affidavit were published in a local newspaper Thursday, a day after he was refused bail by the Federal High Court in the capital, Abuja.
The court has however fixed Friday for ruling in the bail application by Kalu.
The EFCC had charged Kalu with laundering 3 billion naira (130 naira=US$1).
A judge had earlier ruled that some of the assets be temporarily forfeited to the federal government, but the judgment has yet to be enforced.
Four other former governors from Taraba, Plateau and Jigawa, all states in the north, and South-east Enugu have been slammed with similar charges.
The EFCC, which had accused most of the former governors of the country's 36 states of corruption, is expected to charge more former state executives to court soon.
Lagos - 26/07/2007
http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/daily_news/'ex-nigerian_state_governor_operated_59_bank_accounts'_200707263960/
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