Fraud Scandal: Ortom 'SLAPS' Fresh 5Billion Accusation Against Ex Gov.Gabriel Suswam; Blames Him For Inability To Pay Salaries
The former governor is alleged to have misled corporate organisations and regulators to enable his administration siphon the funds.
Mr. Suswam had claimed that the funds would be used to finance some key infrastructural projects in the state. But the new administration in the state is now saying some of the projects listed were long completed and paid for.
While the then governor was telling institutions that facilitated the bond in March 2015 about the projects he planned to spend the billions on, authorities said some of the projects he listed were fully executed, paid for and commissioned between 2012 and 2013.
The Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, had said on Sunday that his government had uncovered a N4 billion bond fraud, allegedly perpetrated by the Suswam administration in connivance with a bank.
The governor made the revelation to journalists at an interdenominational service in Makurdi, the state capital, to mark his second year in office.
Mr. Ortom said the financial impropriety allegedly perpetrated by the Suswam administration had impoverished the northcentral state and that it was one of the reasons development of the state was slow and prompt payment of civil servants’ salaries could not be achieved.
The governor make the disclosure just as PREMIUM TIMES was reviewing documents on the matter and putting finishing touches to its investigation.
This newspaper found that just about three months to end of its tenure, the Suswam administration, which was in office between May 2007 and May 2015, floated a N4.95 billion bond to fund eight ongoing and new projects.
The projects were the construction of Oshigbudu-Obagaji 10 km Road; Oju-Obussu-Utonikan 51.48 Km Road; Taraku-Nako-Agada 61 kim Road; Up-grade/Rehabilitation of Daudu-Gbajimgba Road from rural raod; Construction of Wannunne-Ikpa-Igbo 36.73 Km Road; and Rehabilitation and Upgrading of Water Works at Makurdi, Otukpo and Katsina-Ala.
Others were rural electrification and rehabilitation of township roads.
The seven year (2015-2017) 16.5 per cent Fixed Rate Development Fund, also called BNS Bond II, issued by way of public offering, was approved by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March 2015.
According to the approval documents, “After deductions of the costs and expenses of the issue, which are estimated at N153,028,698 representing 3.0 per cent and the underwriting fees of N173,250,000, representing 3.50 per cent of the gross issue proceeds, the net proceeds amounting to N4,623,721302.50 will be utilised to fund the projects.”
The debt is to repaid within 84 months at N104million per month, deducted at source from the state’s federal allocations.
Subsidiaries of three banks – FBN Trustees Ltd, SKYE Trustees Ltd, and UBA Trustees Ltd – were appointed as joint trustees to manage the bond for the benefits of all parties.
Three separate accounts were also opened at the Makurdi branch of UBA Plc to receive the bond proceeds.
However, documents exclusively obtained by this newspaper suggested that some of the eight projects for which the bond was floated were completed and commissioned years before the bond was issued in 2015.
The revelation came via a letter written by the state government in response to request by the three trustees to the bond demanding the bank statement of the Bond Proceeds Account which the Project Monitoring Consultants laboured unsuccessfully to obtain.
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