IMMIGRATION FRAUD: Pictures as Ex-Minister Abba Moro is Sent to Prison

-


The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned the immediate past Interior Minister, Abba Moro, on an 11-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, procurement fraud and money laundering.

Mr. Moro was arraigned before Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja, alongside three others for their roles in the botched March 15, 2014 immigration recruitment exercise that killed no fewer than 20 job seekers across the country, the News Agency of Nigeria reported.

His co-accused are: permanent secretary of the ministry at the time, Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia; a deputy director in the ministry, F. O Alayebami; one Mahmood Ahmadu (at large), and the contracting firm given the recruitment job, Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.

The EFCC accused the defendants of defrauding 676,675 Nigerian applicants of N676,675,000 (Six Hundred and Seventy Six Million, Six Hundred and Seventy Five Thousand Naira).

Each of the 676,675 applicants were charged N1,000 each for the participating in the recruitment exercise.
The anti-graft agency is also accusing the defendants of flouting the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the award of the contract for the organisation of the recruitment test to Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.

The EFCC said Drexel EFCC had no prior advertisement and no needs assessment and procurement plan was carried out before the contract was awarded.
According to the anti-graft agency, the contract was awarded through selective tendering procedure by invitation of 4 (Four) firms without seeking the approval of the Bureau for Public Procurement, contrary to sections 40, 42 and 43 of the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 and punishable under section 58 of the same act.

Drexel is also alleged to be unregistered and had no legal capacity to enter into the said contract.
There is also said to be no budgetary provision for the exercise in the 2014 Federal Capital budget hence the applicants were made to bear the responsibility of funding the project without approval of the Board contrary to section 22(5) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000, the charge said.

Justice Chikere ordered that the former minister should be remanded in Kuje prison, Abuja, while Mrs. Daniel-Nwobia was released on administrative bail, according to Daily Trust.
The judge adjourned the case to March 2 for hearing of Mr. Abba Moro’s bail application. 

Premium Times

Comments

Post a Comment

The views expressed in comments published on my blog are those of the comment writers alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of queendoosh.com. Please take note.

Popular posts from this blog

NEW! Scientists Develop Vaccine For HIV/AIDs

-
Image
A new vaccine-based treatment for HIV has succeeded in suppressing the virus in five patients, raising hopes further research could help prevent Aids without the need for daily drugs. Independent of the United Kingdom reported on Friday that researchers combined two innovative HIV vaccines with a drug usually used to treat cancer in the trial, conducted over three years at the IrsiCaixa Aids Research Institute in Barcelona. After receiving the treatment, the virus was undetectable in five out of 24 participants and its spread was stopped by their immune systems, reported the New Scientist. One of them has been drug-free for seven months. Around 18 million people – half of all those living with HIV around the world – take ART to slow the progression of the infection, according to the UN. But these drugs are expensive and can cause unpleasant side effects. Patients have to remember to take them every day, sometimes over their entire lives. Mitchell Warren, executive dire...
NEXT PAGE »

Senate Indicts Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Over Loss of N1.6tr Revenue

-
Image
Nigeria's imediate past minister of Finance ,Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been indicted by the Nigerian senate over a N1.7t loss in revenue. According to the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Alleged Misuse, Under-Remittance and Other Fraudulent Activities, revenue agencies short-changed the Federal Government to the tune of N1.7tn as unremitted revenue generated between 2012 and 2016. The panel blamed it on a memo by a former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who allegedly issued the memo to the agencies to remit 25 per cent of revenue they generated to the Federal Government and spend 75 per cent on their expenditures. An interim report by the committee chaired by Senator Olamilekan Adeola, details this. The panel said the amount to be remitted to the Federal Government during the period by 93 agencies it investigated was N21.5tn. It alleged that 25 of the 93 agencies covered defrauded the government of a total of N1,695,585,887,406.
NEXT PAGE »