Presidency probes 13 officials over alleged corruption at PEF

The Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public
Property (SPIP) has said it had begun investigation into alleged corrupt
practices by some officials of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF).

Also facing scrutiny are three permanent secretaries

Its chairman, Okoi Obono-Obla, dropped the hint while addressing
reporters yesterday in Abuja.

He claimed that foreign currencies were also discovered in the accounts
of the suspects, adding that the panel would approach the court to seek for
the forfeiture of funds to the Federal Government.

The chairman said most of the inflows came from huge transactions
deposited into their personal accounts.

He alleged: “After a painstaking perusal of the statement of accounts of
the suspects and witnesses and a critical appraisal of the documents so far
retrieved during the course of our investigation, the total inflow of money
into the suspects’ accounts in various institutions amounted to N22
billion.”

According to Obono-Obla, the team is seeking an interim forfeiture of
funds and properties belonging to the affected officials in a case with
suit number, FHC/ABJ/CS/862/2019, at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

He said one of the permanent secretaries bought a house in Asokoro for
over N500 million in the name of her eight-year-old son, adding that she
also registered a company through which she had been conducting business.

The chairman added that the panel got a petition from a whistleblower
about the property and commenced investigation.

His words: “Our investigation is yet to be concluded because when we are
investigating a public officer, we also investigate the siblings and
relations and fronts so you won’t see their names.

“The other one was alleged to have included projects in budgets of 2017
and 2018 that were fake and was also allegedly collecting money to pay for
goods and services that are no more in existence.

‘The other permanent secretary, we got information from a whistleblower,
has a lot of landed property, including a hotel in Abuja. We are
investigating him. From our investigation, he did not declare his assets
when he was inaugurated in October 2017. And in accordance with the
procedure of the Code of Conduct Bureau, an assets declaration form was
given to him to declare his assets and he was supposed to do that within
three months of his assumption of office.”