TWO lawyers, Fatima Hassan and Victor Giwa, who testified at the ongoing probe of the former Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, have been arrested by the operatives.
The lawyers were reportedly nabbed at the Presidential Villa venue of the sitting of the Justice Ayo Salami-led panel.
Sources at the commission said the lawyers were currently seeking bail.
They were said to have been arrested over a N75 million bribery allegation levelled against some EFCC operatives known as “Magu boys”.
A businessman, Donatus Wokoma, had accused those described as “Magu boys” of attempting to extort N75 million from him through his former lawyer, Giwa, who allegedly said he was hired to nail Magu.
The second lawyer, Hassan, was said to have denied involvement in the “N75 million bribery” deal.
Magu’s lawyer, Wahab Shittu, said the money Hassan demanded was her legal fees and commission to assist Wokoma in unfreezing N250m with the EFCC.
Shittu said, “A suspect who was being investigated by the EFCC had his account frozen by EFCC and was making attempts, and he got a court verdict ordering EFCC to release the account. He was desperate to get the money released and contacted Victor Giwa, his lawyer.
“Now, the lawyer contacted this Fatima Hassan, who said she was going to assist them in getting the account unblocked. And she was going to use her contacts within the Federal Ministry of Justice to direct EFCC to free the account.”
The embattled EFCC boss, Magu, was arrested and detained on July 6, 2020, following summons by the presidential panel.
