AN operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Ibrahim Ahmed Tuesday told the Federal High Court, Abuja, presided over by Justice E. S. Chukwu that former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, used non existent companies to divert public funds.
Meanwhile, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has debunked insinuations that it was not doing enough in the probe of corruption and the arrest of corrupt public officials.
In the same vein, the ICPC Director in Oyo and Ogun states, Mr. Olusesan Olukile Tuesday identified discipline as one of the most pressing issues central to the fight against corruption in the country.
The former Speaker is facing a 16-count criminal charge bordering on contract inflation and fraudulent embezzlement of public fund totalling N9 billion.
At the resumed hearing of the case Tuesday, the prosecution witness, Ibrahim Ahmed, who was lead in evidence by EFCC counsel, Festus Keyamo said that in the course of investigation, letters were written and sent to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, banks where the House maintained accounts, and the Accountant-General of the Federation for the details of the releases made to the Lower Chamber in respect of 2010 capital budget. Ibrahim added that a letter was also written to the Director-General of Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) for the current price of items mentioned in the petition against Bankole.
Ibrahim further told the court that from the responses, the contractors were identified and a letter was sent to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), to verify the status of these companies.
The prosecution witness further told the court that based on the response from CAC, the investigative team decided to do a physical verification of the addresses of the companies as stated in the CAC response. However, he said none of the addresses was found to be genuine. Ibrahim gave the names of the non-existent companies as Multigate Resources Limited, Wadata Global Company and Chiwama Nigeria Limited.
The witness also revealed that based on investigation, the contractors were discovered to have been paid.
Justice Chukwu has fixed June 12-13, 2013 for further hearing.
The ICPC Chairman, Ekpo Nta, in Abuja yesterday explained the reason behind the agency’s quiet nature in the handling of corruption suspects, saying that it was a strategy to prevent accomplices of such suspects from fleeing.
While speaking on the Commission’s progress, Nta said that the ICPC had effected a lot of changes in the pensions administration at the Head of Service and was currently having discussions with teaching hospitals and federal medical centres in order to carry out systems review with the aim of blocking loopholes that encourage corruption.
Olukile who stated this at the inauguration of the anti-corruption clubs in public and private schools in Iseyin added that the educational institutions have the critical responsibility of moulding the young minds to become responsible adults and that any lapses in the chain of educational development will correspondingly affect the future.
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