EFCC blocks account of billionaire businesswoman linked with ex-First Lady

Shagaya’s account was blocked by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), because investigations revealed that she allegedly paid some ‘suspicious’ amount of money to Jonathan’s account.

According to Punch, after the businesswoman discovered that her account with a balance of N500m was blocked by the EFCC, she stormed the bank and tried to withdraw the money.

An EFCC source also said “When we were investigating Patience and looking into her accounts, we discovered that Bola Shagaya had been making huge and regular payments into her (Patience’s) bank account.

“We then discovered that the monies were kickbacks. The Ministry of Trade and Investment gave suspicious commission to Shagaya’s company on every crude oil sent abroad. The commission was put in an account for Bola Shagaya. The money will then go to Patience’s account. So we started investigating her.

“We were able to trace the N500m to her account at Unity Bank. So, we placed a ‘No Debit Order’ on the account.

“When she heard about the restriction, she ran down to the bank to stop the order from being carried out. We then called the bank to let them know that doing such would amount to a criminal conspiracy. At that point, she had no choice.”

Shagaya is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bolmus Group International and Managing Director of Practoil Limited.

Meanwhile, the EFCC has finalised plans to seize properties belonging to former first lady, Patience Jonathan.