For about seven hours yesterday, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and Other Institutions, Mr. Herman Hembe and three staff of the committee faced a barrage of questions from operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the alleged N44 million bribe demanded from the Securities and Exchange Commission.The Director General of the Commission, Ms Arunma Oteh, had alleged that Hembe made the demand and that the refusal of SEC to play ball was partly responsible for the probe.
Hembe denied the allegation and the House asked the committee to step off the inquiry while it set up an ad-hoc panel to handle the assignment.
The Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, subsequently stepped in and constituted a committee to probe the bribery scandal in the House. Certain people from both sides were invited for questioning.
It was gathered yesterday that Hembe and the three secretariat staff arrived the EFCC headquarters at about 10 am for the interrogation.
Said one source at EFCC: “We have been quizzing Hembe and the three secretariat staff in the last seven hours.
“The commission is trying to ascertain who met with SEC management staff on the items required for the botched public hearing and who compiled the items.
“We will also establish whether the committee actually wrote a covering letter to formally apply for assistance with the list of items.
“There has been allegation of forgery of some documents by the House Chairman and the DG of SEC. This is another area we are interested in uncovering.
“All the four invitees were asked to clarify issues on some documents and vouchers retrieved from SEC relating to the Committee on Capital Market and Other Institutions.
“As for Hembe, the investigators specifically asked whether he was sponsored by SEC on a capacity training trip to Dominican Republic or not. Hembe admitted that he and his former deputy, Chris Azubogu, were sponsored by SEC and that they made the trip up to a point.
“Azubogu will also be grilled differently on the capacity training trip and how he was involved.
“So far, all the people invited have made useful statements. But we still need to hear from SEC DG and top management staff on some controversial aspects of the submissions of Hembe and the three secretariat staff.”
The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the grilling of some people.
He said: “I can only confirm that some people have been interrogated. Our investigators are on top of the situation.”
The face-off between Otteh and Hembe took a twist during the week, following the discovery of a secret memo suggesting that it was SEC that initiated the move to sponsor the controversial public hearing with a N30.4 million budget.
But SEC claimed that the House submitted a list of items it needed for the public hearing. SEC also said that the House Committee went ahead to appoint a consultant for the public hearing.
A March 14 letter to the DG of SEC, signed by the Assistant Committee Clerk, Abama Thomas, reads: “The committee has appointed Messrs Note Worth Consulting as a consultant to the Committee on the public hearing. Kindly avail him all the necessary assistance please. Accept the Committee’s warm regards.”
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