The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has
broken it silence on the raid of the head office of The
SUN newspaper in Lagos.

On Monday morning, well-armed operatives of the
agency invaded premises of the newspaper and
disrupted its operation for about an hour.

The SUN had alleged witch hunt, accusing Ibrahim
Magu, acting chairman of the commission, of
masterminding the invasion over a story written about
his wife.

But in its statement, the agency said the raid was part
of routine efforts to ascertain the state of the assets of
the publishing company which is subject of subsisting
interim forfeiture order.

The anti-graft agency said in the course of its
prosecution of Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia
state and owner of the company, it had obtained an
asset forfeiture order which has since been appealed
by the organisation.

“Operatives of the EFCC in the early hours of June 12,
2017, visited the head office of the Sun Newspaper in
Lagos. The visit which lasted for less an hour was part
of routine efforts to ascertain the state of the assets of
the publishing company which is subject of subsisting
interim forfeiture order,” the statement by EFCC read.

“Prior to the visit, the commission had written to the
management of the company to account for its
management of the assets for the period of the
subsisting court order.

“The commission still awaits the response of The SUN
and will not be distracted by any attempt to whip up
sentiments by alluding to an appeal which has been
pending for ten years. The commission’s action is
without prejudice to any appeal and only meant to
verify the integrity of the assets.”

The EFCC also denied some allegations contained in
the statement which the management of the company
released after the raid.

“Contrary to claims in a statement released to the
media by the management of The SUN, no employee
of the media outfit was molested or intimidated for the
few minutes that operatives of the commission spent
in the premises of the company,” the statement read.

“The claim that ‘EFCC operatives subjected our staff to
crude intimidation, psychological and emotional
trauma, even as some of the men accused our
organisation of publishing pro-Biafra, Boko Haram,
and Niger Delta Militant stories,’ is strange and clearly
the figment of the imagination of the Sun.

TheCable