Pension Probe: PermSec, Two Others In EFCC Net Over Alleged N2bn Fraud.

ABUJA — A Permanent Secretary and two other civil servants (names withheld) are now in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s net over alleged N2 billion fraud in Police Pension Fund.
The Permanent Secretary who is serving with one of the newly created federal ministries was alleged to have embezzled N2 billion from the Police Pension Fund by the Pension Reform Task Team, PRTT.

*From left: Sen. Adegbenga Kaka,member of committee, Sen. Aloysious Eto, Chairman Joint committee of Establishment & Public service and state &local government administration, and Sen. Femi Ojudu, member of committee, during the Public Hearing on Comprehensive Investigation of Payment of Pension and Management/Administration of Pension Funds in South-West Zone Lagos, Nigeria. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

The Permanent Secretary was alleged to have perpetrated the scam in conjunction with two other civil servants and have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission,  ICPC, for prosecution.
The other accomplices were former staff in the Police Pension Fund Office and investigation by Vanguard revealed that the scam was carried out through an account by a syndicate in the Police Pensions office.
A source revealed: “A cheque of N300 million was used to clear money from an account which is being kept for that sole purpose. The PermSec and his accomplices have been handed over to the EFCC and ICPC but investigations are on-going. On conclusion, we expect ICPC and EFCC to take the matter to court.”
Maina denies fraud allegations
Meanwhile, chairman of PRTT, Mr. AbdulRasheed Maina, has rebuffed allegations of fraud brought against the task force team by Assistant Chief Accountant in the Police Pension Office, Mr. Toyin Ishola.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Ishola, who appeared before joint Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service and States and Local Government Administration probing pension management and administration in Nigeria had accused the PRTT of mismanaging billions of pensioners’ money.
Recovers N151.2bn
But Maina in a 50-page written submission to the committee denied every allegation, saying the committee was able to recover N151.6 billion, and £6 million between 2010 and 2012.
He said N74 billion of the recovered funds has been appropriated as part of the N4.877 trillion 2012 budget by the Federal Government.
Details also include N24 billion set aside for harmonisation of arrears of retired police officers. Officers in the cadre of Assistant Inspectors General and Commissioners of Police are reportedly paid pension ranging from N84,000 to N101,000 from the fund.
Also, the PRTT said it found out illegal “withdrawals by staff of the Police Pension Office using multiple cheques with fictitious names. The taskforce team alleged that over 30 cheques were being used per day by the fraudsters to withdraw money from the banks.
According to the document, “such illegal withdrawals amounted to N14 billion. The PRTT, assisted by the law enforcement agencies have made substantial recovery of the said stolen monies. A staff of the Police Pension Office (names withheld) turned in N1 billion cash. “Another surrendered three luxury estates with about 27 blocks of deluxe flats he built in Abuja.”
On an account supposedly opened in the name of younger brother of Maina, Danjuma Zubairu, the document showed that Maina is an indigene of Biu, in Borno State, while Zubairu, who is the group head, Private Banking, Fidelity Bank, Abuja is from Kabba in Kogi State.