The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has released on bail the eight Ondo State Local Government chairmen detained for alleged misappropriation of public funds.

The Council bosses were detained at the Benin Zonal office of the agency over allegations of fraudulent activities in 2017 involving all the 18 local governments during the dying days of Governor Olusegun Mimiko in office.

Those detained were released from the EFCC custody on Saturday after meeting their administrative bail conditions.

The affected local government chairmen were arrested for ignoring the EFCC summons to provide relevant documents in the ongoing investigation into the alleged multimillion scam.

Some treasurers and heads of local government administration were also taken in for questioning by the anti-graft agency over the financial deal.

“All detained local government chairmen were released on Saturday on administrative bail. The incumbent chairmen were not the culprits. The culprits were those that served as local government chairmen in 2017 who were involved in the multimillion naira scam.

“The current council bosses were detained because they ignored EFCC summons to provide necessary documents to aid investigation into the alleged misappropriation. Since government is continuum, they were taken in for questioning.

“But, thank God they’ve been released by the commission for further investigations on the scam. “The ongoing investigations by the EFCC spanned across the 18 local government areas of the state.

“It is interesting that all the chairmen who were involved in the deal in 2017 have case to answer and at the appropriate time the anti-graft agency will reign them in.“

An official of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the state, who asked not to be named, confirmed the release of the chairmen.

“Unfortunately, those that were arrested and detained over the alleged fraud were the incumbent chairmen, heads of local government administration and treasurers.

“Their offence was that they did honour EFCC summons to provide relevant documents on the alleged fraudulent transaction carried in 2017, “.

The anti-graft agency is acting on a petition alleging a fraudulent transaction made in 2017 in all the 18 local governments using phoney accounts and contracts.