Timi Sylva denies owning N1b house, fat bank accounts

A former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, has denied allegations that he owns two buildings in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, worth over N1 billion.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which levelled the allegation, also said the governor had fat bank accounts in the names of proxies.
In a statement on Sunday by his media aide, Doifie Ola, Sylva said the allegations were a hoax.
Sylva said he has nothing to do with the two buildings in question.
Ola said in the statement: “It is with huge interest that H.E. Chief Timipre Sylva read a few newspaper reports at the weekend about the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigation into his tenure as Governor of Bayelsa State.
“According to the reports, the anti-corruption agency has found two buildings in Abuja valued at over one billion naira belonging to the former governor.
“Sylva dissociates himself from the said buildings. He knows nothing about them. In fact, he is reading about ownership of the said buildings for the first time.
“Since the EFCC is already in court with Sylva over charges of fraud and money laundering, subjecting him to a media trial is improper. It does not serve the ends of justice. It is an exercise in political persecution.
“Sylva recalls that this is not the first time he is being tried in the media. In March 2010, newspapers relying on a so-called EFCC interim report had linked him to a fraud of over N100 billion in Bayelsa State. The story then was that, in 2009, he transferred over 40 million US Dollars to an offshore account. Till date, no one has come forward to provide the account details of the foreign account. Nor has he been charged on that score.
“Sylva is clear that under Nigerian laws, he remains innocent of all the charges against him until all the evidence has been tested in a court of competent jurisdiction.”