According to SaharaReporters, Mr. Tenebe was reported to have shocked investigators as he revealed to them he had enjoyed the cover of several top government officials and politicians, naming Mike Oghiadomhe, a former Chief of Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan; Tony Anenih, chair of the PDP Board of Trustees; and Diezani Alison Madueke, the Petroleum Resources Minister.
Admitting the arrest in a press statement today in which it tried to undermine our report, the EFCC challenged the story on the grounds that the information did not emanate from its spokesman.
“The attributions ascribed to the unknown and unnamed EFCC source is shocking as it runs contrary to the established media protocol at the Commission,” the statement said. “For the benefit of members of the public who may have been misled by the attributions, all information emanating from the EFCC to the media are authenticated by the designated official spokesperson, which is not the case with this report.”
It is unclear if the EFCC statement was supposed to have been taken seriously by anyone, as it was not signed by its own spokesman or any known official of the commission. That suggests that the response was indeed authored by someone within the government.
In the face-saving press statement, the EFCC failed to explain why Mr. Tenebe was arrested and put under investigation for close to one week without making the information public or charging the suspect to court.
“It is important to state here that no serving or former petroleum resources minister or public figure has been linked to the investigation in question,” the commission said, adding that the findings of its investigation about Tenebe would be made public in due course.
Citing what it described as its corporate “integrity,” the EFCC declared that it is not “a pliable institution that is susceptible to manipulation by vested interests.”
“Claims, that the Commission “had been under intense pressure from several quarters to muddle up the case in order to spring the suspect free” is an ingenious invention to impugn the integrity of the EFCC,” it said.
It was learned from investigators today that the $50 million found in Mr. Tenebe’s account were a leftover of deposits from the illegal sale of crude oil through Saltpond Oil platform in Ghana.
See EFCC Official Press Release Below:
The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to a report entitled, Crude Oil Theft: PDP Governorship Candidate Jarret Tenebe Arrested, Implicates Jonathan’s former Chief of Staff, Anenih and Petroleum Minister, which appeared on Saharareporters, an online news service, on Thursday, September 11, 2014.
The said report, quoting unnamed sources at the EFCC, made wide ranging allegations linking top government officials, both former and serving, to the activities of a certain, Jarret Tenebe, a suspect who is under investigation for oil theft.
The attributions ascribed to the unknown and unnamed EFCC source is shocking as it runs contrary to the established media protocol at the Commission. For the benefit of members of the public who may have been misled by the attributions, all information emanating from the EFCC to the media are authenticated by the designated official spokesperson, which is not the case with this report.
Equally distasteful was the obvious attempt to tar the agency as a pliable institution that is susceptible to manipulation by vested interests. Claims, that the Commission “had been under intense pressure from several quarters to muddle up the case in order to spring the suspect free” is an ingenious invention to impugn the integrity of the EFCC.
It is important to state here that no serving or former petroleum resources minister or public figure has been linked to the investigation in question.
Consequently, the Commission dissociates itself from the report in its entirety.
However, the matter for which Tenebe, the managing director of Fenix Impex Limited was arrested is still under investigation and in due course the Commission will make its findings public.
Source: SaharaReporters
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