The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has confirmed the receipt of the refund of $760,000 paid as advanced school fees by the immediate past Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello for his children at the American International School, Abuja.
The spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, confirmed the development to Credible News via a telephone interview, saying “the school has transferred the entire $ 760, 000 to the Commissions’ recovery account.”
Recall that the American International School of Abuja, AISA had asked the EFCC to provide “authentic banking details” for the refund of fees paid for the children of the former governor.
This is following a request by the anti-graft agency to the school to refund the sum of $845,000 allegedly paid by former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello for his son who is a student of the prestigious school.
In a letter addressed to the Lagos Zonal Commander of the EFCC, the school agreed that the sum of $845,852 was paid in tuition “since the 7th of September 2021 to date.”
AISA said the sum to be refunded is $760,910 because it had deducted educational services already rendered.
READ ALSO: Abuja American School agrees to refund Yahaya Bello’s $760k children’s school fees to EFCC
The school said it would draw the attention of the anti-graft agency if there were any further deposits by the Bello family.
Bello allegedly paid $720,000 in advance as fees for five of his children from the coffers of the Kogi State Government.
The children are in Grade Levels 2 to 8 at the school.
The Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, had earlier revealed that the former governor transferred $720,000 from the government’s coffers to a bureau de change before leaving office to pay in advance for his child’s school fee.
Olukoyede revealed this during an interview with journalists on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said, “a sitting governor, because he knows he is going, moved money directly from government to bureau de change, used it to pay the child’s school fee in advance, $720,000 in advance, in anticipation that he was going to leave the Government House.
“In a poor state like Kogi, and you want me to close my eyes to that under the guise of ‘I’m being used.’ Being used by who at this stage of my life?”
Bello is facing a 19 count charge bothering on financial misappropriation and money laundering during his tenure as governor of the state.
Credible News.ng
