The pension reform task team dipped hands into the police pension funds, mismanaging hundreds of millions and illegally moving billions between banks, according to a forensic audit report prepared by KPMG.
We obtained a copy of the report, which showed that the Pension Reform Task Team, headed by Abdulrasheed Maina, used names of top government functionaries to siphon about N140 million under the guise of travel expenses to take biometric data of police pensioners outside the country.
Names of some top government officials were used in payment vouchers and then replaced with other names in the e-payment schedules to loot public funds, the report said.
Maina’s team yesterday denied operating any bank account illegally, and last week the team told us that documents purportedly proving that Maina engaged in fraud were cloned and forged.
But original payment schedules and e-payment vouchers were shown to us in Abuja at the weekend by government officials, indicating irregularities in payments of hundreds of millions approved by Maina.
The audit report also detailed sleaze by the pension task team, including use of names of high-profile officials to withdraw monies that never got to such officials.
Among senior officials named in the payment schedules but who apparently did not receive any money are former Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim, EFCC chairman Ibrahim Lamorde, former Head of Service Professor Oladapo Afolabi, Director General of the Budget Office Mr. Bright Okogwu and Auditor General of the Federation Mr. Samuel Ukura.
The report also said there were multiple payments to police pension office staff in place of earlier listed senior government officials with same bank account numbers.
A deputy director at the PPO, Abdullahi Umar, received three estacodes amounting to N6.9 million for the same trip. Umar received N2 million as estacode for spending a day in New York to monitor the biometric data verification exercise, and also collected N2.3 million in place of Federal permanent secretary Goni Aji and another N2.3 million in the place of Hafiz Ringim.
The assistant director accounts at the PPO, John Yusuf, approved two estacodes for himself amounting to N4.7 million. The first payment was N2.1 million for a New York trip while the second payment of N2.6 million was made to Yusuf in place of Mohammed Dauda who was listed in the voucher but not in the e-payment schedule.
A level six officer at the PPO, Christian Madubuike, received a total sum of N5.4 million in his account in three instalments for a single trip.
The KPMG report said when asked, Madubuike said he was not aware of the payments, saying “he was informed about it by his boss, Yusuf, who directed him to withdraw the funds and deliver them to him. He further stated that he withdrew the funds on 20 July, 2011 and handed them over to Yusuf on the same day.”
A staff of the federal budget office, Chukwuma Osuagwu, received three estacodes totalling N9.7 million. The payment of N4.8 million was for monitoring of the data capture exercise in New York and was made in the name of the DG budget, Bright Okogwu.
The second payment of N2.8 million was made into Osuagwu’s account approved by Maina as allowances in place of R.N. Odega who was listed on the voucher but replaced with Osuagwu on the e-payment schedule.
Oludare Adedokun was chief security officer to Professor Afolabi. The PPO authorised payment of N6.3 million into his account for monitoring of the data capture exercise in Atlanta.
Also, KPMG said it was found that the payment of N4.8 million was approved as estacode for Afolabi whose name was reflected on the voucher but not on the e-payment list, while the balance of N1.4 million was paid to Adedokun for travelling to Atlanta.
One Adamu Sale was paid N3 million as estacode for the biometric capture exercise in South Africa even when his name was not on the voucher list. He collected the money in place of a certain officer listed as D. General.
“At least N140,238,081 was approved by Maina on 9 August 2011 to be paid to 70 recipients for the purpose of monitoring the data capturing exercise in Accra, Atlanta, Johannesburg, London and New York,” the report said.
It added that it was not established whether or not the officials actually attended the biometric data capture exercises which held in five select cities outside the country. One of the officials, Abdullahi Umar, was in Atlanta for just a day before travelling to Saudi Arabia and was paid N6.9 million, it added.
The KPMG report said most of the travel payments were made to the beneficiaries about three weeks before the approvals were made.
“With the exception of one, each tranche of payment was already debited to PPO account with Unity Bank on 14 or 15 July 2010 prior to the date of the approval of the payment by the chairman of the task team on August 9 2011,” it added.
Investigation by the Senate since the beginning of the month has opened can of worms in pension scheme administration in the country, revealing how officials massively looted public funds.
At one of the committee’s sessions, Mr Toyin Ishola, an Assistant Chief Accountant in the police pension office, accused Maina of mismanaging N140 million of pension funds.
The KPMG report revealed that Maina unilaterally approved movements of N24 billion released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in July 2010 for settlement of police pension arrears.
Maina’s team reacts
The Pension Reform Task Team yesterday reacted to accusations that it moved funds between banks without approval, saying it never opened and operated any account without approval of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
Spokesman for the team, Hassan Saluhu, told us yesterday by telephone: “It is not true that we opened any account without the approval of the accountant general of the federation.”
He said the pension task team transferred the sum of N8 billion to Fidelity Bank and the money was still intact. On the issue of First Bank account, he said, “We transferred the First Bank account from Lagos to Abuja” because it is not supposed to be in Lagos.
Senate, EFCC investigations continue
The EFCC told us last week that investigations into the pension fraud were on and that some government officials may soon be charged to court.
Among officials being investigated are Federal permanent secretary Abubakar Kigo; Esias Dangabar; a former director of the Police Pension Office (PPO), deputy commissioner of Police Okafor; Ahmed Wada, a former deputy director of the PPO now a director in the Federal Ministry of Sports; and Abdullahi Umar, now deputy director in the Ministry of Works are currently under investigation over the pension fraud.
Others are accountant John Yusuf and cashier Vicky, both of the pension office.
The eight suspects were recently arrested and interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Abuja, and were granted administrative bails pending prosecution.
The Senate committee is also expected to continue holding public hearings on the pension funds administration. (Daily Trust)
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