By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested a former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr Charles Ugwuh.
The ex-Minister was apprehended by officials of the agency from Lagos in Imo State on January 11, 2024, alongside Mr Geoffrey Ekenma.
A statement from the spokesman of the EFCC, Mr Dele Oyewale, on Monday, January 15 said his arrest followed a petition from a new generation bank on the alleged fraud perpetrated through a company, Ebony Agro Industries Limited, linked to the ex-minister.
It was alleged that Mr Ugwuh and Mr Ekenma, who is the Managing Director of Ebony Agro Industries, obtained a loan from the financial institution for the purchase and production of polished rice.
However, the suspect, according to the petitioner, failed to meet his obligations to the bank and all efforts to get him to repay the loan facility proved abortive.
The EFCC has promised to charge him in court after its investigations.
Business Post reports that Mr Ugwuh was once the president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).
In 2007, he was appointed as the Minister of Commerce and Industry by the late former President Umaru Yar’Adua but was sacked in 2008.
In December 2023, after he was suspended as the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State, he was arrested by operatives of the Imi Command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Adedapo Adesanya