BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has vowed that the Federal Government through her ministry and the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) will intensify efforts to rid the public service of fraudulent and criminally minded persons.
This is just as she commended members of PICA for detecting pay roll fraud committed by nine civil servants suspected to be involved in siphoning public funds by inserting fake workers in the payroll of Federal Ministries.
The nine suspects were on Wednesday, November 1, 2017, arraigned before an Abuja High Court for prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly conspiring and inserting fake workers in the payrolls of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.
The nine suspects include; Usman Aliyu Dayo, Osunlope Opeyemi, Johnson Adedokun, Ojeifo Robert Sylvanus, Oyebade Ebenezer Ayodeji and Florence Olaolu Dada. Others are Olaolu Haruna Dada, Blessing Ejeh and Aderibigbe Isaac Taiwo. The nine accused persons pleaded not guilty when the 15-count charge was read to them.
The charge sheet filed by the EFCC stated that the alleged fraud was committed at various times between 2011 and 2015.
In her comment, the Minister of Finance, described their arraignment as “a welcome development that has given further credibility to the war on corruption by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
The nine suspects are being accuse of having connived and added ghost workers on the payrolls of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and siphoned N338,577,678.78 in the name of the non-existent workers.
A statement by the Director of Information in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Malam Salisu Na’inna Danbatta said PICA was set up by the President Buhari-led Administration in 2016 to strengthen the controls over personnel and pension costs.
