The National Co-ordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu, has been arrested and detained by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged involvement in N37.1 billion in fraud, News About Nigeria reports.
It was gathered that the coordinator was arrested and detained by the EFCC on Tuesday at the commission’s headquarters in Jani, Abuja.
An investigation has been ongoing into the alleged laundering of N37,170,855,753.44 in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development under former Minister Sadiya Umar-Farouk.
According to a source from the Crime Commission who pleaded anonymity, the coordinator was arrested and detained for questioning in connection to the ongoing fraud investigations.
Shehu, who was suspended from office by President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday, served during the tenure of Muhammadu Buhari and was the National Coordinator in charge of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme under the Ministry; however, huge sums of money went missing under her leadership.
In the same vein, the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Umar-Farouk, is expected to appear before the investigators at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Headquarters in Jabbi, Abuja, today for questioning over the case of the money laundering that happened during her tenure through a contractor, James Okwete.
Over the weekend, the commission sent an invitation to the former minister, stating that the interview is scheduled to be held today adding that it is in tandem with the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004.
