Alleged fictitious contracts totalling N29 billion in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, between 2010 and 2011, have been uncovered.
But the minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe, has denied any involvement in the alleged dirty deals.
The scam involved payments for phantom projects, over-budgeting and violation of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) guidelines for the award of government contracts.
According to official documents made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday by Anti-Corruption Network, a whistle-blowing organisation headquartered in Abuja, the award of these fake contracts, which had been ongoing, violated the BPP rules but were nevertheless fully paid for with the authority of Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance.
Examples of such non-existent projects, which the group said have been exhaustively investigated and found to be fraudulent, are: contract for the canalization of Odoubou-Bololou creek project in Ogbaba- Gbene, Burutu LGA, at a cost of N1.259bn; contract for land reclamation and shoreline protection at Ogbobagbene, for which the sum of N2.431bn was fraudulently paid; and the contract for canalization training of Foupolo-Bunu Ndoro creek project in Burutu LGA for which N2.370bn was paid even though the project did not exist.
According to a Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs document obtained yesterday by LEADERSHIP at the media briefing convened by Anti-Corruption Network, contract for land reclamatinon /shoreline protection project at Ogbobagbene, Burutu LGA, Delta State, under the watch of the ministry and awarded in 2010 at the cost of N5,813,743,373.92 was found to have been over-funded to the tune of N12,925,132,704.00.This was despite the cost-reduction review totalling N1,067,349,380.28 given by the BPP.
Briefing journalists yesterday, the executive secretary of the anti-corruption group, Otunba Dino Melaye, said over N29bn had been siphoned through a list of fictitious contracts by the ministry, adding that, also in 2010, a contract for land reclamation/ shoreline protection and canalization in the Niger Delta region, Batch 1, was awarded by the ministry to one Messrs Hanslum Construction Ltd and six others at the sum of N14,270,966,124.99.
“We are resolute to expose corruption at all levels. We are going to take this fight to the next level by not only exposing them but also going to court to challenge those who perpetrate it. In the Niger Delta Ministry, it is unfortunate that we have discovered three phantom projects. They are not just phantom but non-existent. We say that it is satanic, the collaboration between the Niger Delta Ministry and the Ministry of Finance in this scam,” he said.
He noted that the anti-corruption network would send copies of the documents proving these scams to the presidency, the ministers of the affected ministries as well as the relevant anti-corruption agencies such as the EFCC and the ICPC for further investigations. The move, he said, would be followed by a court action against the key players of the fraud, adding that, as a whistleblower, he owed it a duty to the nation to uncover corrupt dealings wherever it was found.
Elder Orubebe has denied any knowledge of the alleged fraud of N29billion meant for the contracts’ funding in his office.
The minister, who described the allegation of embezzlement of public funds as very untrue, a fallacy and a miscounted one, said via telephone that he was open to an investigation by “any authority”.
Orubebe, who further described the allegation as cheap blackmail by unrepentant liars and cheap popularity seekers, advised them go back and check their facts as the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy would never release funds without carrying out proper inspection of projects sites.
“The minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy cannot allow that at all; there is no way the minister will approve funds for projects that are not on ground. Projects are inspected before the release of funds,” he stated. “If we had done a fraud on such a massive scale, wouldn’t they have found out? In 2010 and 2011 we carried out contracts according to the funds availed us and have lamented bitterly of shortfalls and there are just three allegations out of the hundreds of contracts.”
Our papers are open to scrutiny. Every allegation they have made, we have countered. We have got the documents for everything. I have all the facts and figures to show the allegations are false,” Orubebe told our source.
Source: Leadership
No comments:
Post a Comment