The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday interrogated the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Zenith, Providus, and Jaiz banks.
The affected CEOs are Dr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu (Zenith Bank), Haruna Musa (Jaiz Bank), and Walter Akpani (Providus Bank).
The bank chiefs were invited for questioning in connection with financial misappropriation and fraud linked to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouk.
A source close to the investigation told the PUNCH that “They were invited and are being probed in connection with the uncovered ₦44bn fraud and the ₦585million involving Halima Shehu and Betta Edu.
“The suspended minister and the coordinator have both made new revelations during their interrogations, and the investigation is still ongoing.”
Sources close to The Guardian who also confirmed the development on condition of anonymity said the arrests was made on Tuesday.
According to the source, the banking executives, long suspected of facilitating the improper diversion of public funds into private accounts, are now facing the music within the confines of EFCC custody.
The anti-graft agency is dissecting a web of suspicious transactions involving hefty sums of public money stolen into private accounts, allegedly approved by Edu and Farouq leveraging their ministerial positions.
The EFCC is investigating numerous instances of substantial public funds directed into private accounts, an action sanctioned by Edu and Farouq using their position as ministers.
Farouq, who oversaw the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development under the previous administration, is also under investigation for the mismanagement of at least N37 billion in public funds designated for the conditional cash transfer programme of then-President Muhammadu Buhari.
The large-scale movement of funds into private accounts was partly facilitated by a potential deliberate oversight in flagging suspicious transactions —a responsibility banks bear under various anti-financial crime laws and Central Bank directives.