news
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EFCC
Raise Alarm Over Vaswani Brothers |
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newsdiaryonline.com
Sunday May 3,2009 |
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission,EFCC has raised an alarm over
clandestine plans by the recently
deported Indian born Vaswani brothers to
launch an intensive campaign of calumny
against the federal government and some
agencies of government especially the
EFCC.
The Commission in a statement issued by
Femi Babafemi on Sunday said it has
become imperative to alert the public of
the plot by the Vaswani brothers to
deploy huge resources to fund a campaign
of calumny against the EFCC in view of
the fact that they have perfected
arrangements to use fellow Nigerians to
do their hatchet job.
According to the statement,” rather than
pay the N6.5billion they have defrauded
the federal government of Nigeria, the
Vaswani brothers in their characteristic
style have chosen to deploy this fund to
wage a disguised war against the
government and people of Nigeria by
sponsoring a well orchestrated campaign
against the EFCC and the leadership of
the anti-graft agency.
“In the next few days Nigerians should
not be surprised to see various
sponsored libelous publications and
materials being circulated through the
mass media to discredit and disparage
the EFCC and its Chairman. The only
reason for this is that the nation’s
anti-graft agency has dared to touch the
rich and powerful Vaswani brothers by
asking them to pay legitimate revenues
totaling N6.5billion belonging to the
federal government of Nigeria, a demand
they have rebuffed with disdain and
impunity in a manner that portray them
as if they are above the laws of
Nigeria. “
The statement further said that the
Commission is not unaware of attempts to
make use of the media aides of a highly
placed Nigerian to execute the media
campaign against the EFCC and its
leadership.
It added however that no amount of
sponsored campaign will discourage the
Commission from discharging its
statutory responsibility while a greedy
set of businessmen destroy the economy
of Nigeria.
“The EFCC has acted in the best interest
of Nigeria by requesting that the
Vaswani brothers pay the revenue they
have denied the country and equally
taking steps that funds in their
accounts are not taken out of the
country with a view to recovering the
N6.5billion they have refused to pay.
“The Commission will equally not be
deterred from getting to the root of
on-going investigation of allegations of
tax evasion by the Vaswani brothers and
their companies. It should be noted that
if the essence of the campaign of
calumny against the EFCC and its
Chairman is to blackmail the Commission
and stop it from forging ahead with the
investigation and prosecution of
individuals and companies involved in
this economic crime, it has failed from
the start”, the statement added.
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