EFCC Arrests Corporate Affairs Commission’s Registrar-General, Sambo Dasuki’s Cousin And others Who Set Own Documents Ablaze Over Contract Scam
FREEPRESS – The Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC and ICPC have allegedly arrested Mr. Mahmud Bello, the Registrar-General of Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC along side with the Director of procurement, Mr. Badamasi Yau, and the Director of audit, Mr. Adelaja Adekoya over contract scam. Mahmud Bello is a cousin to Col. Sambo Dasuki, the former Security Adviser to former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Acting on media reports and petitions by aggrived members of staff who have been shortchanged by the corrupt management of the commission, EFCC and ICPC swing into action and immediately arrested Mr. Mahmud Bello and others who are remotely connected to the scam. They were said to have been released on bail several days after interrogation.
The sister anti-corruption agency, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, is allegedly being compromised by the management of the CAC. According to a reliable source within the commission, our reporter gathered that the Registrar-General and his collaborators are making efforts to pervert the cause justice.
FreePress broke the news late last year on how Mr. Mahmud Bello and the top management of CAC were caught in the bind of grand sleaze following the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to all the ministries, agencies and parastatals to close their various numerous accounts nationwide and revert to one Treasury Single Account, TSA. The Presidential order which unsettled virtually all the agencies frightened the CAC into scampering for cover up in its dubious and under the table dealings.
Inside sources disclosed to FreePress then that CAC top management officials disobeyed the presidential order which stipulates that all monies in various accounts of the companies regulating agency should be mopped up and turned into the designated Treasury Single Account. The cat was let out of the bag when the agency, instead of obeying the directive of the federal government, swiftly awarded contracts arbitrarily to phoney companies without advertisement or job orders so as to prevent the linkage of fraud in the system. The inside source says “it was a clear case of contract splitting as contracts of similar description were separately awarded”.
Contract splitting in the nation’s status book is a criminal offence. Chief Bode George was jailed in similar circumstances along with five of his other collaborators by the Lagos High Court under Justice Joseph Olubunmi Oyewole concerning his tenure as the chairperson of the board of the Nigerian Port Authority, NPA, between 2001 and 2003 on account of contract splitting, inflation, abuse of office and disobedience to lawful order in 2009.
In CAC offices in many parts of the country, contractors were paid before the actual execution of the contracts to enable them meet up with the September 15th deadline for compliance with the TSA. As at September 14th the Director of Procurement, Mr Badamasi Yau was still signing and backdating contracts and referring to none-existent earlier contracts award. When contacted then, Mr Yau denied knowledge of the allegations of burning the agency’s documents, contract splitting, inflation, abuse of office and disobedience to the TSA lawful order.
Responding to our enquiries, Mr Yau said, “I have forwarded this text to my Chief Executive, honestly speaking I am not aware of burning any documents in my office. If at all there is any please contact my CEO. I assured you my procurement records are intact since I took over in 2010. They are subject to inspection if you so wish”, he said.
When reminded of ducking major points of the enquiries of contract splitting and other allegations, Mr Yau simply quipped: “I did say in response that my procurement documents are intact, the allegations for contract splitting is not true. I am also confidently saying this to you that except the statutory 15% mobilisation (where applicable) there has never be anytime/anywhere a contract is paid before execution. The records are very clear and available anytime you want”.
The EFCC has confirmed that top management of CAC were arrested and release on bail. When FreePress contacted Mr. Mahmud Bello and Mr. Badamasi Yau to confirm that they and their colleagues were interrogated by the EFCC, they both intoned that we should visit the Abuja head office on Monday for their own side of the story.
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