IAAF had mistakenly sent $150,000 as a grant to the AFN instead of
$15,000 in 2018. But instead of returning the extra $135,000 to IAAF,
Akawu allegedly collected the funds in tranches from the AFN’s board
account.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission says Amaechi Akawu, the Secretary-General of the Athletics
Federation of Nigeria, has not shown how excess $135,000 mistakenly
sent by the International Association of Athletics Federation was
spent.
IAAF had mistakenly sent $150,000 as a grant to the AFN instead of
$15,000 in 2018. But instead of returning the extra $135,000 to IAAF,
Akawu allegedly collected the funds in tranches from the AFN’s board
account. [story_link align="left"]75504[/story_link]
Akawu was detained on October 22 following his arrest and was
subsequently released on administrative bail the next day to enable
him to submit documents requested by investigators handling the case.
The ICPC stated that the AFN secretary-general got several approvals
from the federation’s board for the release of the money through a
series of letters to the former Minister of Youths and Sports
Development, Solomon Dalung.
"On different occasions, he requested and got approval for the release
of N30.4 million, N4.9 million and $20,000 all in the month of July
2017 as expenses for the competition. He also requested for N9.5
million in the same period, but N5 million was approved by the then
permanent secretary.
"Akawu has yet to furnish the commission with the evidence of the
expenditures, telling investigators that he had submitted all the
documents relating to how the $130,000 was spent by AFN to the
registry in the office of the minister," said the anti-corruption
agency.
The commission said despite a letter from the IAAF requesting the
return of the excess funds, AFN refused to obey the directive, with
Akawu stating that the funds were spent to host a competition in Delta
State.
"AFN has yet to refund the excess fund with Akawu as the
secretary-general, claiming that the entire $130,000 was spent on
hosting the competition that held in July 2017," ICPC added.