The alleged offence took place while he was Chairman of Nkanu East Local Government Area, Enugu State.
Allegations from a petition received by the EFCC stated that Iyiogwe allegedly diverted money meant for the development of the local government into his personal account and spent same on his personal needs without any approval from Nkanu East Local Government Area Legislative Council, and without executing up to 30 per cent capital project captured between 2012 and 2015 for which billions of naira were appropriated.
According to the petitioner, the former chairman withheld workers’ salaries for several months, including leave allowances, which were never paid for four years.
He was also alleged to have refurbished a council bus with as much as N5m and spent another N5m as bribe to some of the council members to help cover up some of his corrupt practices.
Iyiogwe, who was alleged to have been paying his wife the sum of N1.5m monthly without legislative approval, was accused of diverting public funds for the construction of a shopping plaza at Ogui Road Junction; an estate near Mbaukwu street Enugu; a multi million naira mansion in his Village at Ubaha; a filling station at Agbani; and fleet of cars for transport services being managed by his wife in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,” a source stated.
According to the EFCC source, investigations into the allegations contained in the petition confirmed that the cashier of the council, Mrs. Felicia Okeke, actually withdrew a total sum of N80m from the council account with UBA and deposited same into the UBA bank account of the suspect during the period he served as the local government chairman.
It was also gathered that the suspect allegedly used his Head of Works, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, to allegedly steal and launder various sums of money, an allegation Okonkwo confessed to during interrogation.
Further investigations also revealed that Mrs. Okeke, the council’s cashier, operated a dollar account with same UBA bank where about $30,000 was deposited and withdrawn within a short interval.
“Investigations are still ongoing and further arrests will be made with the case set to be charged to court subsequently even as Iyiogwe has been released and told to report on a later date,” the source added.
All attempts to speak with Iyiogwe proved abortive as he did not respond to telephone calls.
A text message sent to his telephone had not been responded to as of 10.15pm.
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