- Traces of explosives found in Egyptair crash: investigators
There was a mild drama at the Ado-Ekiti Branch of the Zenith Bank yesterday as Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose stormed the bank to make withdrawals from his unfrozen accounts. Fayose, when he stormed Zenith Bank The Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti had on Tuesday ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to de-freeze Fayose’s accounts.
Fayose got to the premises of the bank at about 1:20 pm and made straight for the office of the Bank’s Branch Manager, Mr. Mojeed Adekunle and presented a counter-cheque for withdrawal from his account. He told the bank manager that he was in the bank to make some withdrawals from his account following a court order, served on the bank on Wednesday, December 14, to unfreeze his accounts.
Handing out the cheque, the governor said he was ready to wait till any time his money would be paid. “I am ready to wait in your office till you close for the day as I want my money in cash,“ he said firmly.
Mr. Adekunle who confirmed the receipt of the court order, told Fayose that the Bank would comply with the order and asked him to wait patiently to enable them consult with the headquarters. At exactly 3:20 pm after two hours, the governor left the bank with N5 million cash, saying: “I came to the bank after serving them with the court order and I made up my mind that I won’t leave the bank until my money is given to me.
”The bank has done the needful by giving me part of the money confirming that they have obeyed the court order. “I want to thank Nigerians and my supporters for believing in our cause that Nigerians should not be oppressed.
‘’And I want to thank the EFCC for obeying the court order. They placed order on two accounts, one has N82 million, the other has N300 million. I have collected N5 million now. ‘’I’m not closing the accounts but if they attack my accounts again, I will make trouble with them, big trouble.
”If EFCC is appealing the court judgement that is their funeral. As a sitting Governor my immunity is absolute just like that of the President. They should tell EFCC to shut up. There is no authority other than the authority of the constitution of this country which I enjoy.
‘’Rubbishing the office of the governor is the same as rubbishing that of the President because after the President, Governors are the next. ”It’s their time now, another people’s time will come tomorrow. There is no place for dictatorship in Nigeria.”
In the meantime, Egyptian air accident investigators said on Thursday traces of explosives had been found on the remains of victims of an Egyptair flight that crashed en route from Paris to Cairo.
Flight MS 804 plunged into one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean Sea on May 19, killing all 66 people on board.
Egypt’s investigation committee issued a statement saying the coroner had found traces of explosives on the remains of some victims. It gave no more details but said its findings were sent to prosecutors investigating foul play.
“The technical investigation committee … places itself and its expertise at the disposal of prosecutors,” it said.
A judicial source said the prosecution had not received details about the explosives traces but would include the coroner’s findings in its inquiries.
An Egyptian source familiar with the matter said Egypt had informed France months ago about its findings but French investigators had requested more time to study them.
“That is why it took so long to make an announcement,” the source said, declining to be named as the investigation is continuing.
Paris newspaper Le Figaro reported in September that French investigators had seen trace levels of TNT on the plane’s debris but were prevented from further examining it. Egyptian officials denied at the time obstructing French inquiries.
France has hinted at its frustration at the pace of the investigation but has stopped short of openly criticizing Cairo, with which it enjoys broadly positive relations and which has ordered French Rafale fighter jets.
France’s Foreign Ministry said the causes of the crash were still being investigated and appeared to hint that it had been kept at arm’s length.
“France, like it has been from the beginning of this tragic accident, remains at the disposal of the relevant Egyptian authorities to contribute to this investigation, including with the means of its experts,” it said.
French investigators from BEA, the agency looking into the crash, said on Thursday no conclusions could be drawn at this stage on what might have caused the crash.
“In the absence of detailed information on the conditions and ways in which samples were taken leading to the detection of traces of explosives, the BEA considers that it is not possible at this stage to draw conclusions on the origin of the accident,” a spokeswoman for BEA said.
The BEA is accredited to the investigation because the Airbus aircraft was designed and built in France. It provided help on the sea search and repairs to damaged flight recorders, but Western sources say it has mainly been kept at arm’s length from the rest of the investigation.
Two Western sources briefed on the investigation expressed reservations about the explosives findings and said a technical cause remained the most likely.
One of the sources said the traces of explosives reportedly found appeared to be identical to samples previously held in stock, whereas there would usually be tiny forensic differences. Neither source agreed to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Planemaker Airbus declined comment on the Egyptian announcement.
Audio from the flight recorder mentions a fire on board the plane in its final moments and analysis of the flight data recorder showed smoke in the lavatory and avionics bay.
The Paris prosecutor’s office opened a manslaughter investigation in June but said it was not looking into terrorism as a possible cause of the crash at this stage.
No group has claimed responsibility for the crash.
Vanguard with additional report from MSN
