Even as Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State is battling hard to defend his integrity in the allegations of money laundering, fraud and using government money to buy choice houses in Lagos, the agent allegedly used by the governor to purchase the houses has vowed to cooperate with officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“We have nothing to hide. We are going to tell the Commission the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We are professionals engaged in Real Estate. So, nobody can use us to cover anything. Some of our officials have been invited by EFCC and they will be there on Friday to tell them our own side of the story”, said an official of Still Earth Limited and Signachorr, the company used to purchase the houses in choice areas of Lagos.
It was gathered that in scrutinising the bank accounts of the firm, huge payment by Samchase Limited, a contractor to the Ekiti State Government, was discovered.
It is believed by EFCC agents that the payment was made to complete the process of buying the seven houses.
The cost of the houses is believed to be in the range of N1.35 billion.
One of Fayose’s business partners, Abbey Agbele, who is already with EFCC, is also believed to be “heavily connected” to the ‘deals’.
An EFCC official said: “ Still Earth and Signochorr claim payments by Privateer Ltd of Abbey Agbele and Simcheese are payments for property sold to Fayose by Still Earth”.
An official of the estate agency said: “I want to tell you that we are a reputable company and have nothing to hide. We engaged in genuine transaction with the governor and all the documents are there. We will not hide anything from the EFCC or any government agency that may be interested in the matter because our hands are clean.
“Nobody is trying to implicate the governor. He should own up now because we are not ready to play any dirty game with him or anybody.”
EFCC is also investigating Fayose over N4.7 billion he allegedly collected from the Office of the National Security Adviser under Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd) through a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.
Already, Fayose’s bank account with Zenith Bank Plc has been frozen by a court order obtained by the EFCC.
One of the officials of the estate agency said contrary to the alarm being raised, the governor actually bought a property in Lagos through it at the cost of N550 million.
It was, however, gathered that Fayose only paid an initial deposit of N400 million for the property through Agbele, promising to pay the balance at a later date.
It was gathered that the balance of N150 million was paid through Samchese Nigeria Limited, a contractor to Ekiti State Government.
