Emerging reports have revealed why some officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday stormed the premises of The Sun Publishing Limited.
It was gathered according to Punch Newspaper that some of the workers of the company were asked to vacate the premises as the operatives claimed they had an order to seal off the building.
The company, in a statement on Monday, confirmed the incident.
The statement said some of the workers were harassed by the operatives, who disrupted the circulation process.
It said, “Law-abiding members of staff of The Sun Publishing Limited resumed work this morning, June 12, 2017, to behold heavily armed EFCC operatives in our company. They claimed to have ‘orders from above’ to seal up the premises of The Sun Publishing Limited.
“At gunpoint, they ordered our security personnel to take them round the company premises, after which they proceeded to prevent workers from either entering or leaving the premises, and disrupted our circulation process.
“For one grueling hour, EFCC operatives subjected our members of 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, as they surveyed our premises.
“We recall that in 2007, (10 years ago) the EFCC had obtained an interim forfeiture order in respect of some assets of The Sun, attached to a suit against our Publisher, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, for which we have filed an appeal, which is still pending in court.
“We also recall that the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, had written a letter personally signed by him dated 23rd of May and received on the 7th of June, asking The Sun management to report to the Commission on June 5, detailing our operations in the last 10 years, on account of an interim order of forfeiture under appeal.”
The EFCC, however, said the visit to the head office of the newspaper was part of routine efforts to ascertain the state of the assets of the publishing company which was subject of subsisting interim forfeiture order.
The EFCC said this in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, on Monday.
The commission, therefore, denied allegations that it stormed the media company because the acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, was fighting the newspaper over a March publication accusing him of corruption.
The anti-graft agency said in the course of its prosecution of The SUN publisher, Orji Uzor Kalu, it had obtained an asset forfeiture order which had since been appealed by the company.
The EFCC denied allegations that it harassed and molested workers of the newspaper.
It further denied reports that some of its operatives accused the newspaper of promoting pro-Biafran and pro-Niger-Deltan militants in its publications.
The commission said Magu was taking a legal action against The SUN in his private capacity and he would not abuse his power by using the anti-graft agency to settle personal scores.
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