Abubakar Isa Funtua, politician and son of late Mallam Isa Funtua, a top Nigerian businessman and ally of former President Muhammadu Buhari, is reportedly pleading with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for soft landing over alleged N28 billion fraud.
Abubakar and one of his ally, Asega Aliga, who is now at large, The Witness gathered were accused of embezzling N28 billion from Keystone Bank.
Abubakar Isa Funtu was arrested and granted bail by the EFCC in June this year.
Before his arrest and detention by the EFCC, Abubakar who was said to have initially fled to Spain has a substantial wealth, estimated at $300 million in cash and properties, which is now under scrutiny. Aliga, on the other hand, is believed to be hiding in Uganda.
The duo purportedly used 13 phoney business concerns to obtain agricultural loans from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Godwin Emefiele; they refused to repay the billion before going into hiding.
According to sources, Abubakar and Aliga had used proxies to set up a company called Seltrix Nigeria Limited, where most of the N28 billion collected from the CBN as Agric loans were warehoused. Only about N4 billion is now left in the Seltrix account. The impact of their actions is significant, as Keystone Bank can no longer recover its money because the companies that used to obtain those loans only exist on paper.
