THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Wednesday, told an Abuja
High Court that one of the nine suspects docked over allegations of inserting
several ghost workers on the payroll of the Federal Government operated about
200 different accounts with banks in Abuja, while another has over 50 houses.
The defendants— Dayo, Opeyemi, Adedokun,
Sylvanus, Ayodeji, Dada, Dada, Ejeh and Taiwo— were arraigned before an Abuja
High Court at Apo.
According to the charge sheet, most of the
defendants were civil servants from government agencies such as the Office of
the Accountant General of the Federation, Ministry of Agriculture and Water
Resources; Ministry of the Environment and the Federal Civil Service
Commission, FCSC.
EFCC accused them of creating and inserting
fictitious names in the payroll of the Federal Government for salaries and
allowances without official consent, thereby causing the loss of several
millions of Naira.
The offence they committed was said be in
contravention of Section 289 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act,
ACJA, 2015.
However, the defendants pleaded not guilty to
the charge even as they were remanded in prison custody by trial Justice Peter
Kekemeke based on an application by EFCC lawyer, Mr. Mukhtar Mohammed.
EFCC applied for them to remain in prison
custody pending the commencement of their trial.
Plea by the defendants to be granted bail,
pending determination of charge against them, was refused yesterday.
Whereas the female suspects were remanded in
Suleja Prison in Niger State, the court remanded the male defendants in Kuje
Prison.
3
go for plea bargain
The court fixed November 8 to hear
applications by counsel to three of the defendants, who said they were willing
for a plea bargain.
The three suspects had applied through their
lawyers to forfeit some property and cash in lieu of their conviction for the
crimes.
EFCC told the court that its investigators
uncovered that one of the defendants owned and operated about 200 personal
accounts with different banks in Abuja.
Another one reportedly used particulars of his
family members to operate several accounts in various banks.
More so, another defendant was said to own
more than 50 houses in various locations in Abuja and its environs. The alleged
payroll fraud was uncovered by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous
Auditing, PICA, constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2016 to
strengthen controls over government personnel and pension costs.
PICA was set up to ensure that all Federal
Government revenue receipts and payments were subjected to financial rules and
regulations.
It is the first time government will be
arraigning civil servants for allegedly inserting names of ghost workers into
government payroll despite years of reports of losses of billions of Naira
through such practices at ministries, departments and agencies.
Despite government’s claim of recovering huge
sums in recent times, no official of any of the agencies had been brought to
face trial.
Source: Vanguard
Source: Vanguard
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