Embattled Chairman of Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde held a four hour meeting with Lagos based lawyer, Mr Femi Falana in the former’s office in Abuja on Friday. The secret meeting, which a top official of the Commission said is not unconnected to the ongoing investigation of Lamorde of allegations that he re-looted properties and funds recovered from politically exposed persons prosecuted by the agency.

An electronic mail sent to iReports-ng.com by a top official of the agency who craved for anonymity also fingered Mr Falana as one of the beneficiaries of some of the recovered properties Lamorde is now battling to explain how they disappeared from the agency’s records. According to the e-mail, a marble house which houses Mr Falana’s chambers in highbrow Maitama area of Abuja is one of the houses recovered from an associate of convicted former governor of Bayelsa state, Diepreye Alamiayeseigha.

The source said the meeting between Lamorde and Falana may be part of efforts to prepare a statement of defence for the EFCC boss which he will present to the Senate Committee probing Lamorde on fraud allegations. He also expressed fears the meeting may be to plan a court action that will stop the Senate from going ahead with the probe.

It was a time of shocking revelations on Wednesday, August 26 as the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions probing allegations of fraud against  Lamorde was told of how the anti-graft agency boss shared properties recovered from former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun and ex-governor of Bayelsa state , Diepreye Alamiaeseigha among his brothers and other relations.

Though the embattled Lamorde sent in a letter to the Committee pleading for more time to appear, he however later sent the Director of Legal Services of the anti – graft agency, Mr . Chile Okoroma to represent him. The Senator Samuel Anyanwu-led Ethics committee however later excused Okoroma and his entourage at its first sitting to probe George Uboh’ allegation of diversion of N1 trillion corruption funds levelled against Lamorde.

Okoroma, in company with six other lawyers, including Lamorde’s personal lawyer, Mr.Osuagwu Ugochukwu, walked into the venue about one hour after the hearing started. By then, Uboh had started giving an oral submission before the committee.

The EFCC lawyer, after seeking the permission of the panel to react to the submissions by the petitioner, expressed reservations over the decision of the committee members to listen to Uboh without the representatives of the commission in attendance.

Anyanwu said the committee would not attend to any submission from Okoroma and his team because they were not being expected since the commission had already sought permission to be given a later date to appear. He then asked the legal team to excuse the committee to enable it conclude with the petitioner before determining when Lamorde would be invited to respond to the allegation.

Okoroma and Ugochukwu, however, insisted they were walked out even after they appeared before the panel because the committee was silent on the EFCC letter requesting an extension of time to appear before it.

Earlier, in his oral submission based on the documents before the committee, the petitioner had alleged that Former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, during an interaction, told him that the amount declared by the EFCC was a far cry from what was seized from him.

He also explained to the committee, how the incumbent Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, was allegedly intimidated by the Lamorde’s EFCC to, stop a legal process initiated to recover the shortfall of Alamieyeseigha’s money back to the Bayelsa State treasury.

He urged the committee to compel the EFCC to remit N2.051trn to the Federal Government of Nigeria, while Access Bank Plc should be compelled to bring complete and unadulterated statements from 2004 till date. He also asked the senate to invite Aminu Ibrahim and co, a firm of auditors, to appear before it to shed light on discrepancies.

He said, contrary to the provisions of Section 36 of EFCC (Establishment) Act of 2004, the anti – graft agency failed to remit over N1tn. He alleged that the summary of EFCC monetary recoveries from March 2003 – March 2013 (11 financial years), was N497.385bn and that the agency did not mention where the amounted was remitted to.

He also said that the letter written by the EFCC to the Chairman, House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, in 2012 stated that the aggregate recoveries from 2004 to 2011 (8 financial years) was N1.326 trn without details of remittances.

“How can recoveries for eight financial years be more than recoveries for 11 financial years by over N800bn when the eight financial years are subsumed in the 11 financial years? Why do recoveries for the same years differ on different reports? It should be noted that the two documents submitted were prepared under the chairmanship of Lamorde.

“Compare the first two submissions emanating from EFCC. The 2011 submission is over N800bn higher than the 2013 submission despite two additional years of naira recoveries in the 2013 submission. Based on the records, because EFCC has not been able to account for over N800bn, EFCC manipulated the above records and grossly understated recoveries in order to conceal the fraud.”

Uboh added that recoveries in the Central Bank of Nigeria account did not reflect in the audited financial statements because in 2010, CBN’s EFCC account had a balance of N3.3bn, which was not in the audited account for same year.

He further alleged that personal communications between him and Former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha revealed that the amount declared by EFCC as the total seizures from him was far less than the actual money he forfeited to government.

He also alleged that the incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State withdrew the mandate given to him to prosecute the EFCC for not refunding the entire amount seized from Alamieyeseigha, when he was allegedly intimidated by Lamorde. Uboh further told the committee that he had records which revealed details of how Lamorde allegedly gave out some of the assets seized from Nigerians to his siblings and friends especially his younger brother, Usman Lamorde.