Corruption alleged

Abuja: Nigeria’s economic crimes agency said yesterday it had arrested the country’s accountantgeneral on charges of diverting public funds and money laundering to the tune of 80 billion naira ($NZ304 million).

Africa’s biggest economy and energy producer, Nigeria has struggled for decades with endemic corruption among senior public servants and the political elite, who many Nigerians blame for widespread poverty in the country.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said Ahmed Idris used ‘‘proxies, family members and close associates’’ in schemes to defraud the government and invested the proceeds in real estate in the nation’s capital Abuja and his home state of Kano in northern Nigeria.