Barring any last minute change, former minister for the interior,
Abba Moro is to be docked on a 11- count charge bordering on obtaining
by false pretence, procurement fraud and money laundering.
While confirming the development to LEADERSHIP, a source at the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Moro, Anastasia
Daniel Nwobia, F. O Alayebami, Mahmood Ahmadu (at large) and Drexel Tech
Nigeria Ltd allegedly defrauded Nigerian job applicants of a total sum
of N676,675,000 (six hundred and seventy six million, six hundred and
seventy five thousand naira) representing N1, 000 per applicant through
e-payment portal for an online recruitment exercise into the Nigerian
Immigration Service on March, 17, 2013.
The accused are alleged to have contravened the Public Procurement
Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the contract awards by not following the
necessary procedure laid down by the government.
For instance, according to the source, the award of the contract to
Drexel Tech Nig Ltd had no prior advertisement, no needs assessment and a
procurement plan was not carried out before award of the contract.
‘‘The contract was awarded through selective tendering procedure by
invitation four firms without seeking approval of Bureau for Public
Procurement contrary to sections 40, 42 and 43 of the Public Procurement
Act, No. 65 of 2007 and punishable under section 58 of the same act.
Drexel Tech Global Nigeria Limited, the company that provided the
online enlistment and recruitment services is said to be unregistered
and had no legal capacity to enter into the said contract.
There is also said to be no budgetary provision for the exercise in
the 2014 federal capital budget hence the applicants were made to bear
the responsibility of funding the project without approval of the board
contrary to section 22(5) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other
Related Offences Act 2000,’’ the source said.
The source explained that one of the accused, Mahmood Ahmadu (who is
at large) in connivance with Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd, lavished the total
of N423,800,000.00 (four hundred and twenty three million, eight
hundred thousand naira) part of the N676,675,000 (six hundred and
seventy six million, six hundred and seventy five thousand naira) gotten
from the applicants on various expenditure.
This he said included the sum of N202, 500, 000 (two hundred and two
million five hundred thousand naira ) in purchase of a property in a
choice area of the Federal Capital Territory, N120, 100,000 (one hundred
and twenty million one hundred thousand naira ) used in upgrading a
property in Abuja, while N101, 200, 000 (one hundred and one million two
hundred thousand naira) was converted to dollars for personal use.
…EFCC Quizzes Obla (SAN) Over Halliburton Scandal
As part of moves to retry some of the suspects implicated in the
$180m Halliburton bribery scandal, the EFCC yesterday, quizzed a Senior
Advocate of Nigeria, Godwin Odumu Obla for his alleged involvement in
the scandal.
Obla, was part of the team constituted along with the then secretary
of the EFCC, Emmanuel Akomoye to not only participate in the trial but
monitor the ensuing negotiations in the scam and the subsequent
compensation paid to the Nigerian government.
According to a source at the EFCC, Obla came to the headquarters of
the anti graft agency around 10am and was led into the interrogation
room, where he was questioned until 6pm.
He was however, released on administrative bail, while investigation continues.
The source noted that more people are expected to be invited for
questioning in the future as the operatives of the agency identify more
suspects..
LEADERSHIP recalls that the anti graft agency had said it was making
significant progress in its ongoing investigation and at the end of the
day, it may retry some of the suspects implicated in the scandal.
“Already, one of the suspects has a pending application before the
Supreme Court and there are other suspects who will also be arraigned,
depending on the outcome of our investigation. All the key actors have
written us to explain their roles.
“We are probing the role of all past and present public officers
involved in the deal,” the EFCC noted then in an official statement.
Just recently, the EFCC said it was closing in on more suspects in
its ongoing probe of the whereabouts of the $200m (N66bn) penalty fines
paid by five companies indicted in the scandal.
The anti-graft agency has asked the lawyers who handled the
settlement to account for the fines paid and about $12m(N3.960bn)
collected as “legal fees.”
One of the lawyers, Damian Dodo (SAN), who had been quizzed by the
EFCC, had in a letter to the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu reportedly
admitted that the legal team got $3.5m out of the $4.5m paid to it.
He said the balance of $1m was remitted to the Federal Ministry of
Justice as “reimbursement cost’’ to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Leadership
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