The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has alerted and placed the former governor of Kogi state, Yahya Bello on the INTERPOL’s watch list in three North African Countries: Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.
The law enforcement agency said this was followed by an intel that the wanted governor who has failed to honour his court appearance may try to run to any of these countries.
The governor has also been placed on the watch list of Egypt, Libya and Sudan.
The watch-list had been activated ahead of July 17 on which the former governor is expected to appear before a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Remember that Bello is facing a 19-count charge for alleged money laundering, breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds to the tune of N80.2 billion, to which the former governor has denied all allegations. Yet he has failed to appear in court.
During the last hearing, Bello through his lawyers filed an application for the transfer of his trial to the Federal High Court, Lokoja division, the Kogi State capital with the submission that Abuja court does not have the territorial jurisdiction to handle the case.
According to the EFCC source:“Ahead of the next hearing of the case, EFCC has activated many options, including taking a concrete action to watch-list Bello in North Africa.
“We are aware of a botched exit to Morocco via Cameroon. We are determined to stop him from going on exile.
“From Singapore, the EFCC executive chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede was in Tunisia where he delivered a paper at a session on illicit financial flows. Thereafter, he had a meeting with all the heads of INTERPOL in North Africa on the intelligence on the ex-governor.
“He formally asked INTERPOL to place Bello on Red Alert in all North African countries and it was accepted.
“The watch-list has taken immediate effect. He will be arrested in any part of North Africa. We took this step because we are suspecting that he had been bidding time not to be available for arraignment.
“We expect Bello to be in court to prove his innocence. EFCC has to do its work to avoid bad precedent.”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is determined to ensure that the ex-governor does not escape into exile.
