EFCC To Arraign Moro, Others For Defrauding 6.5 Million Applicants

• Says China, Asian countries not cooperating on financial investigations

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will, any moment from now, arraign in court, the immediate past Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, who was arrested by the commission on Monday, over the March 15, 2014 tragic Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment exercise, over his roles in the recruitment saga.

A reliable source within the commission told the Nigerian Tribune on Tuesday that barring any last minute change, the anti-corruption agency would take Moro to court, where 11-count charge would be slammed on him and three others and a company.

According to the source, the charge against the former minister and others, Anastasia Daniel Nwobia, F. O. Alayebami, Mahmood Ahmadu (now at large) and Drexel Tech Nigeria Limited. bordered on obtaining by false pretence, procurement fraud and money laundering.

The former minister, the source informed, allegedly defrauded a total of 6.5 million Nigerian applicants to the tune of N676,675,000, which the source stated was the total amount realised from the N1,000 per applicant through e-payment for their online recruitment exercise into the NIS.

Nigerian Tribune further gathered that the accused allegedly contravened the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the contract awards by not following the necessary procedure laid down by the government, as the award of the contract to Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd had no prior advertisement, no needs assessment, while a procurement plan was not carried out before award of the contract.

The contract, it said, was awarded through selective tendering procedure by invitation of four firms without seeking approval of Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), 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.

The source added that Drexel Tech Global Nigeria Limited, the company that provided the online enlistment and recruitment services, was said to be unregistered and had no legal capacity to enter into the said contract.

Also, it was gathered that no budgetary provision was made for the exercise in the 2014 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.

One of the accused, Mahmood Ahmadu, who is at large, in connivance with Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd, was said to have lavished the total of N423,800,000, part of the N676,675,000 got from the applicants on the purchase of a property in a choice area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, worth N202,500,000; upgrade a property in Abuja to the tune of N120,100,000, while a total sum of N101,200,000 was converted to United State (US) dollars for personal use.

Meanwhile, the country’s anti-corruption commission, on Tuesday, lamented the uncooperative attitude of China and some other Asian countries in financial investigations, particularly in tracing funds transferred without due process.

This was even as the commission and the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria agreed to synergise on financial investigations both within and outside the country.

Speaking while receiving members of the association in his office in Abuja, EFCC’s acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, stated that the level of China’s cooperation with the anti-graft agency was not encouraging.

He stated that in view of the Chinese attitude to Nigeria’s anti-corruption war, the commission could either involve the International Police (Interpol) or deploy diplomacy in carrying out investigations.

“We can go either through Interpol or government to government,” he said, informing, however, that both the United States and the United Kingdom, to some extent, had been cooperating with Nigeria in terms of financial investigations.

He stated that there was a case of $2 billion involving an old generation bank, which the UK had not been forthcoming.

Magu pledged EFCC’s support to the auditors, saying that “we are ready to synergise with you. We also ask for your support beyond banks.”

Speaking earlier, chairman of the Auditors’ Association, Bimbo Dawodu, who was in company with auditors from various banks in the country, stressed the need for the two bodies to collaborate, with a view to achieving progress in the areas of capacity building and investigation of financial frauds both within and outside Nigeria.

Tribune