A mullti-billion naira contract scam is currently rocking the FCT Police Command where the head of the Payroll Office is alleged to have appropriated police funds to himself through fraudulent payments into some organizations’ and friends’ accounts through the use of fictitious payment vouchers.
A petition forwarded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, by a non-governmental organization called League of Civil Service Evaluators, had accused the Police Payroll Officer, Mr. Babatunde S. Ogunjimi, of fraudulent activities and abuse of office and called for his probe by the anti-graft agency.
Considering the weighty allegations contained in the petition, EFCC commenced investigation into the matter and unearthed a web of intricate fraudulent payment system existing at the payroll office where officials of the office allegedly used bank accounts of individuals and companies as conduits for embezzling funds through payment for fictitious contracts or allowances into these accounts.
Account owners thereafter collected 10% of the sums paid into their accounts and allegedly returned the balance to Mr. Ogunjimi.
In the report of investigation filed by the EFCC before a Federal High Court siting in Abuja, the agency’s report showed that some of the collaborators in the scam have refunded various amounts received as commission for the parts they played in looting the Police Payroll funds.
The report, for instance, stated that between 14 November, 2011 and 3 September, 2012, the sum of N142.5 million was transferred from the Police account at Zenith International Bank to S Y Engineering Limited account also at the same bank.
The company belongs to Kabiru Usman. Of this sum, the EFCC claimed in their report that Usman had confessed to receiving the sum of N24.6 million for his collaboration in fraudulent scam out of which the sum of N12 million has been recovered by the anti-graft agency.
Read the full report of this huge fraud in the current edition of TheNEWS magazine being sold nationwide.
[PMNews]