EFCC staff disappears after stealing over $30,000 from exhibit Room

An employee of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has vanished after allegedly stealing over $30,000 from the commission’s evidence repository.

The EFCC is facing another controversy after an employee from its Kaduna office allegedly stole over $30,000 from the exhibits room.

Insiders at the agency revealed that the officer known only as Polycarp disappeared after the zonal director, Benedict Ubi, instructed an audit of the exhibit storage area.

The audit was initiated in the wake of an internal scandal in Lagos, where 10 EFCC officers were detained over theft of items, including gold bars worth over ₦1 billion, $180,000, and £140,000.

According to insiders, Polycarp used the pretext of needing to step out and vanished.

Efforts to contact him were unsuccessful, as all his phone lines were switched off.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” one source stated. “The initial audit only uncovered discrepancies in the foreign currency records.

A more thorough review might reveal additional losses.”

-Threads-

This is not the first time the EFCC has been tainted by internal corruption.

In 2019, an officer was accused of accepting a $20,000 bribe from a businessman at Lagos’ Murtala Mohammed International Airport.

Despite his confession, the officer was reinstated under the then-acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, and the matter was kept under wraps.

In another case, a staff member was dismissed in 2021 after an audio recording revealed him advising suspects on how to unfreeze accounts and drop charges.

The commission’s spokesperson at the time described the officer as a “corrupt fifth columnist” whose actions were “contemptuous” of EFCC’s values.

More recently, on January 6, the EFCC announced the dismissal of 27 officers for fraudulent activities and misconduct.

However, insiders claimed the figure represented cumulative dismissals since the agency’s inception in 2003, rather than a recent purge.

-Investigation-

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is actively pursuing Polycarp, aiming to apprehend him.

Despite efforts to contact EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale, he remained unresponsive, neglecting both phone calls and text messages.

This latest scandal raises further questions about the EFCC’s internal controls and the integrity of its personnel, even as the agency continues its fight against corruption in Nigeria