Fact-check: Did EFCC Discover $800m Cash at the Residence of Former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State?
Claims: There is a photo of piles of cash circulating on social media claiming that it was $800 million discovered and seized by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) from the residence of a former governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu.
Full text: The text of the claim reads in parts:
“Breaking News: Efcc Discovered 800 Million Dollars Cash Stack At The Home Of Former Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu
“ Some EFCC officials stormed the House of Former Abia state governor Okezie Ikpeazu and recovered some 800 Million dollars cash stacked in his house.”
Recall that a former Governor of the state, Theodor Orji, who is the predecessor of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, was arrested along with his sons, Chinedu, in 2021, and is still under investigation by the EFCC for alleged money laundering.
The EFCC has not made any official statement about the outcome of that investigation.
Verification: PRNigeria fact check team discovers that the post was shared in various platform including Igbo Times Magazine
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Further search results reveal that the former Governor Ikpeazu refuted the claims of the alleged recovery of $800 million from his house. He stated that Abia State had not earned that amount of money since its inception. Similarly, the EFCC has faulted the report describing it as false that should be disregarded.
However, there have been reports about the former governor’s alleged financial transactions and lavish spendings on political associates.
Meanwhile, a reverse image search of the accompanying image by PRNigeria revealed that the images of stacks of cash were taken during a raid in Mexico in 2007, where authorities seized $205 million in cash including weapons, drugs, and other assets from a suspected drug trafficker named Zhenli Ye Gon.
Zhenli Ye Gon fled to the United States before the raid, and was arrested in 2007 by the DEA in Maryland. He fought extradition to Mexico for nine years, until he was finally sent back in 2016 to face charges. He is currently in prison awaiting trials.
Conclusion: PRNigeria fact-check team discovered that the claims were based on a picture from a raid operation in Mexico in 2007, which was falsely attributed to the former governor of Abia State. The image was of a raid on the home of Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese-Mexican businessman.
PRNigeria therefore concludes that the claim circulating on social media that the former governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, had $800 million in cash at his residence which was discovered and seized by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) is False.
