A non-governmental organization has called on the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, to probe the N10 billion scandal involving the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the leadership of National Assembly and the Accountant General of the Federation.
The group, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), made this call in a petition signed by its chairman Olanrewaju Suraju, to the acting chairman of EFCC.
Prmium times had in a report revealed that the Minister of Finance released the sum to the leadership of the National Assembly to pay for exotic cars despite the fact that National Assembly has its own N125 billion budget.
HEDA said there is need for investigation of the payment.
A statement released by the organization read: “In line with the aforementioned subject, HEDA is really concerned that despite the cash crunch and public outcry, the recent release of whopping N10 billion, not appropriated or approved by the National Assembly, to leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, in a surreptitious manner smacks of corruption, conspiracy, abuse of office and misuse of public fund.
“This was the outcome of an investigative probe of an online newspaper.
further investigation revealed that the National Assembly (Senate President, Speaker and Management of National Assembly) allegedly paid a total of N6.6 billion for the purchase of exotic cars, contrary to the monetization policy of the Federal Government.
“According to the report and documents published on April 23, 2018, by PREMIUM TIMES and UDEME, it was revealed that Nigeria’s Senate and House of Representatives likely used the claim to purchase of exotic cars as a decoy for money laundering, corruption, stealing, forgery and illegality.
“Official documents obtained by the newspaper showed that the purchases were made by the three arms of the federal parliament—the Senate, the House of Representatives and the management unit of the lawmaking arm.
“The Senate spent N3.2billion on these cars. The lower chamber followed closely, acquiring N3billion worth of exotic cars in 17 deals. The management of the National Assembly wrapped up the car procurement extravaganza, taking delivery of N430 million worth of cars using five different dealers.”
The group further pointed that , “The newspaper alleges the payments for the cars were made from the questionable extra- budgetary N10 billion discreetly and curiously released to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, under the guise of helping the law making arm to settle its outstanding liabilities.
“As the public suspected, two reliable sources in the National Assembly have described payments for the cars as a charade, saying they were made as part of arrangements to funnel bribes to some top officials of the National Assembly.
“Multiple checks by PREMIUM TIMES however revealed that 44 of the companies were not qualified, in strong support of the suspicion of fund tripping, money laundering and fraud, companies to which the contracts were awarded and paid are not on the database of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) which makes them ineligible for federal jobs. Surprisingly, 17 of these 44 companies are not even registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) meaning they are unknown to the system and laws of the country.
“To be eligible for contracts award from Nigerian government, prospective bidders are usually requested to provide evidence of registration on the database of Federal Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers by submitting Interim Registration Report or valid certificate issued by the BPP.
“According to the newspaper, on December 11, 2014, the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, wrote to ministries, departments and agencies informing them of a presidential directive “that any federal contractor, consultant or service provider that is not registered with the National Database of Federal Contractors, Consultants and service providers domiciled at the Bureau of Public Procurement will no longer be allowed to do business with the government.”
“The circular, which was also sent to the clerk of the National Assembly, added, ‘This is to facilitate the maintenance of a National Database of the particulars, classification and categorization of Federal Contractors, consultants and service providers as required by the provision section 5(h) and 6(1) (f) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.’
“But multiple checks by the Newspaper between April 15 and 23, 2018, show that of the companies the National Assembly awarded contracts to, 44 of them are not on the database of BPP, in what is a clear violation of the procurement law.
“Companies reported not to be on the BPP database include: Mushin Motors, Assamad Procurement and Services Limited, Kaffe International Investment Limited, Quantita Services Nigeria Limited, Dua Creations Limited, Lachoso Engineering Systems Nigeria Limited, Navadee Integrated Nigeria Limited, Starcraft Integrated Limited, Wadatu Global Company Limited, Bimfirst Multiventures Limited, Pimpex Engineering and Construction Company Limited, Three Brothers Concept Nigeria Limited, Braimuh Nigeria Limited, Unified Marketing Limited, H and H Inter-Biz Services, Nsa-Nsa Communication and O.B. Global Intertech Limited.
Others are, “A.A. Marmaro Nigeria Limited, Nwezei Merchandised Limited, Jaaniyat Inter Concept Limited, Popona Star Nigeria Limited, Yujam Nigeria Limited, D.C. Okika Nigeria, Paki International Motors Limited, Afric Capital Nigeria Limited, Liberty Synergy and General enterprises, Pranav Contracting Nigeria Limited, Dee Ex Associate Limited, Shazamzam Construction Limited, Omatie Global, Bilmos Nigeria Limited, Clario View Nigeria Limited, Esyad Nigeria Limited, Omaiauto Limited and Profile Project Nigeria Limited. Chancellors Court Limited, M/S Atlantic Authos Limited, Bestline Nigeria Limited, Geoafriqcom Sourcing and Services Limited, DCN Nigeria Limited, Emerging Giant, GSES Nigeria Limited, Saramin International Ventures Limited.
“Apart from not being on the BPP database, 17 of these companies are not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Established in 1990, the CAC regulates the formation and management of companies administering the Company Allied Matters Act, including the regulation and supervision of the formation, incorporation, management and winding up of companies.
“Companies not on BPP database and not registered with the CAC are: Mushin Motors, Dua Creations, Starcraft Integrated Limited, Wadatu Global Company Limited, Pimpex Engineering and Construction Company Limited, H and H Inter-Biz Services, Nwezei Merchandised Limited, Jaaniyat Inter Concept Limited, and Bilmos Nigeria Limited, Clario View Nigeria Limited, Esyad Nigeria Limited, Omaiauto Limited, Chancellors Court Limited, M/S Atlantic Authos Limited, Geoafriqcom Sourcing and Services Limited and GSES Nigeria Limited.
“By allowing unqualified firms to get government jobs, the leadership of the National Assembly (the Senate President, Speaker of the House, Clerk of the National Assembly and other officials) appears to have violated sections of the Public Procurement Act 2004, especially for colluding with the unqualified firms to defraud government.
“According to the BPP Act, ‘Collusion shall be presumed from a set of acts from which it can be assumed that there was an understanding, implicit, formal or informal, overt or covert under which each person involved reasonably expected that the other would adopt a particular course of action which would interfere with the faithful and proper application of the provisions of this Act,’ Section 9 of the Act said.
“If found guilty, the officials are liable to ‘a cumulative punishment of: (a) a term of imprisonment of not less than five calendar years without any option of fine; and (b) summary dismissal from government services.’
“The affected companies, on conviction, will also be liable to ‘a cumulative penalty of: (a) debarment from all public procurements for a period not less than five calendar years; and (b) a fine equivalent to 25 per cent of the value of the procurement in issue.’
“Every director of the companies as listed on their records at the Corporate Affairs Commission shall also be liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not less than three calendar years but not exceeding five calendar years without an option of fine, the law said.
“In the light of the above reported facts, it is clear that corruption has become firmly rooted in this Country called Nigeria and if these allegations are found true, then it will be clear that the National Assembly has no sympathy for the suffering masses not even for the youths of this country.
“On this account we are calling on your office to investigate the following: The allocation and appropriation of the alleged fund (N10 billion); The appropriateness of the funding; The utilization of N6.6 billion on exotic vehicles through unregistered companies; Procurement certification for this contracts; The role of the Finance Minister; Eligibility of the companies for contract based on BPP accreditation and CAC registration; and The payment of contractors and their delivery of the purported vehicles,” the group said.
The group added that if these allegations are found to be true, then it will be clear that the National Assembly has no sympathy for the suffering masses and it will be clear that corruption has become firmly rooted in the country.