The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

The Economic and Financial

Crimes Commission has

finalized plans to declare

former Executive Director of

National Health Insurance

Scheme, Olufemi Thomas,

over a $2.1 million (about

N413million) suspected

money laundering case.

A source at the commission

said the EFCC has been on

the trail of the former NHIS

boss for weeks after a Bureau

De Change operator,

Ibiteye Bamidele, named him

as the owner of a $2,198,900

cash, recovered from him by

men of the National Drug

Law Enforcement Agency.

Mr. Bamidele was arrested on

July 3 at the Murtala

Mohammed Airport, Lagos,

by officials of the NDLEA.

He was then handed over to

the EFCC on July 8, for

further investigation.

After Mr. Bamidele named

the health insurance boss as

the owner of the money, all

efforts by the anti-graft

agency to locate Mr. Thomas

has been futile.

EFCC operatives, our source

said, have combed every

address associated with the

suspect, including his known

addresses in Lagos and

Abuja.

Efforts were also made to

locate him at the Lagos

University Teaching Hospital

in Lagos but that was also not

successful.

The spokesperson for the

EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren,

confirmed the intensive

search for Mr. Thomas, and

the plan to declare him

wanted.

He also urged anyone with

information on the

whereabouts of Mr. Thomas

to contact the commission or

the nearest police station.

Mr. Thomas was sacked as

CEO of the NHIS on April 28,

2015 by then President

Goodluck Jonathan and

replaced by Olufemi

Akingbade.

The real reason for his sudden removal

remained unknown.

The NDLEA had intercepted Mr.

Bamidele, the Bureau De Change

operator, while he was carrying US

$2,198,900 at the domestic wing of the

Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos.

The suspect, 46, was apprehended on his

way to Abuja, the NDLEA said.

“Preliminary investigation conducted by

the Assets and Financial Investigation

Directorate of the NDLEA revealed that

Ibiteye’s action is in contravention of

the money laundering prohibition act

2011 as amended,” the anti-narcotics

agency said in the statement by Mitchell

Ofoyeju, its spokesperson.

“He alleged that the money belongs to

one Dr. Martins Olufemi Thomas, a

medical practitioner in Lagos.

Investigation conducted by the Agency

did not link the money to proceeds of

narcotics.

“However, a country having insurgency

challenge cannot afford to ignore

suspicious movement of large amount of

money.”

In his statement to the NDLEA, before he

was handed over to the EFCC, Mr.

Ibiteye said that he is a Bureau De

Change operator.

“I used to work for Ebi Bureau De

Change at the Federal Capital Territory

(FCT), Abuja before I established my

company with the name ND&C Global

Investment Limited which is yet to be

fully registered with the Corporate

Affairs Commission (CAC),” he said.

“One of my clients, Dr. Martins Olufemi

Thomas gave me the said amount to take

to Abuja. I was arrested by NDLEA

officers while checking in the money at

MM2 on my way to Abuja.”

Ahmadu Giade, NDLEA Chairman, then

handed over the suspect and the cash to

the EFCC for further action.