Nigeria probes governor's wife
11/09/2006 14:41  - (SA)  

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Lagos - Nigeria's anti-graft agency said on Monday that the wife of governor Goodluck Jonathan of the southern oil-rich state of Bayelsa was under investigation on money laundering charges.

A spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the agency had received a court injunction to freeze $800 000 allegedly laundered by Patience Jonathan through cronies.

He said: "The matter first came up in May after a petition, which was investigated and we found that the alleged money was paid into commercial banks in two instalments.

"We applied and got an injunction from the court for the accounts to be frozen. The next step is to continue our investigation."

Vice-president 'under investigation'

He said a governor's wife didn't enjoy immunity from investigation and prosecution.

Under the country's federal constitution, the president, state governors and their deputies had immunity against prosecution while in office, but they could be investigated.

The EFCC had in recent months spearheaded a renewed drive to root out corruption in the government, including the vice-president who was under investigation.

Bayelsa State was at the heart of the oil-rich, but volatile Niger Delta, where most inhabitants lived on less than one dollar a day because of grinding poverty and neglect.

The former governor Diepreye Alamasiegha was impeached by the state parliamentarians last year over corruption and was replaced by Jonathan.

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