Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Alleged N12b pension fraud: EFCC seals off director’s petrol stations




The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission  (EFCC) has sealed off two filling stations belonging to a former Director in the Pensions Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. S.T. Shuaibu.

Shuaibu, who is currently the Director of Finance in Petroleum Ministry, is being investigated over alleged N12billion pensions scam alongside his former deputy in pension’s office, Mrs. P. U. Chidi.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission  (EFCC) has sealed off two filling stations belonging to a former Director in the Pensions Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. S.T. Shuaibu.

Shuaibu, who is currently the Director of Finance in Petroleum Ministry, is being investigated over alleged N12billion pensions scam alongside his former deputy in pension’s office, Mrs. P. U. Chidi.
Mrs. Chidi is a director in the Federal Ministry of Transport.

The EFCC invoked its powers under Assets Forfeiture Clause in its Act to seal off the stations. A source in the commission said: “The multi-million Naira Riballe Petroleum stations were sealed off on Friday in Kogi State after EFCC operatives traced another N1.5billion diverted from pension’s funds into the account of the company.

“The EFCC operatives have also uncovered a multi-billion Naira estate being built in Sokoto by one Aliu Bello a Personal Assistant to Shuaibu. “The estate which is still under construction has also been sealed off.

When contacted on the development, the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, merely said: “The matter is still being investigated.”

Chairman of the EFCC Mrs. Farida Waziri on January 12 said the commission would “use this year to address corruption in the public service.” She said: “From our end, we have taken some steps that will ultimately complement the on-going reforms in the public service.

“You may want to know that Section 7(b) of the EFCC Establishment Act empowers us to “cause investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the Commission that the person’s life style and extent of the properties are not justified by his source of income”.

“We have gathered sufficient intelligence on some serving and retired public    servants/office holders and we are still compiling information on others who live above their means with a view to inviting them to account for the means of maintaining such life style. “In a matter of days, our teams set up to handle this will start interacting with some of those already on our watch list.”

No comments:

Post a Comment