A lawmaker in the state confirmed the discovery of the account in a chat with our correspondent, noting that the fund in it was lodged without due process, thereby raising some suspicions of corruption by some government officials.
A total of N4.3bn stashed in a 'secret' Zenith Bank account belonging to the Ondo State Government has been discovered, SaharaReporters learnt.
The money is said to have been kept in the account for over 10 years, generating interest until it was uncovered during an auditing of the state accounts recently.
It was gathered that the bank account was active during the administration of former governor, Olusegun Mimiko.
However, details of transactions carried out on the account remained sketchy at the time of this report.
A lawmaker in the state confirmed the discovery of the account in a chat with our correspondent, noting that the fund in it was lodged without due process, thereby raising some suspicions of corruption by some government officials.
The lawmaker disclosed that the money was discovered through the efforts of the Commissioner for Fiance in the state, Mr Wale Akinterinwa.
He said, "We learnt that the money had been kept in that account for over 10 years and was recently discovered due to auditing carried out on bank accounts belonging to the government.
"The most suspicious of it all was that this particular money was lodged in the bank account without following due process.
"And of particular interest to us is about the authorisation of this account or who and who are the signatories to it.
"We all want to know when the account was opened and what has also been the interest rate accurable to government since then."
Bamidele Oleyelogun, Speaker of Ondo State House Assembly, confirmed the discovery of the 'secret' account.
Oleyelogun said the Assembly was worried over the account but had already summoned the Accountant-General and Auditor-General of the state to report before the lawmakers for explanations on the discovery
He said, "The Commissioner for Finance has come here and told us his own side mostly on how the account was discovered.
"So, we would be expecting the two men too to come over and probably furnish the Assembly with details of transactions on this account."