Muhammadu Buhari to probe arms
procurement between 2007 and 2015 has
allegedly uncovered massive fraud in the
army
– The presidential panel had erlier found
out that the total amount involved in arms
fraud was $15bn and not $2.1bn
– According to the report submitted by the
panel, $15bn arms funds were diverted by
top military officers
– A source revealed that Buhari had
directed the panel to change tactics
and prosecute indicted persons immediately
instead of first publicizing their names
A massive fraud has been allegedly
uncovered by a panel set up by President
Muhammadu Buhari to probe arms
procurement between 2007 and 2015.
The presidential panel had earlier submitted
two reports on its probe to Buhari: the first
interim report was submitted in November
2015, while the second one – in January
2016.
Following the submission of the second
report, Buhari had ordered the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to
investigate 18 serving and retired military
officers, mainly from the air force.
News men reports that the panel headed by
Air Vice Marshal J. O. Ode (retd.) was
concluding work on the probe of the Nigerian
army.
During the investigation, the panel found out
that the total amount involved in arms fraud
was $15bn and not $2.1bn.
According to the report, $15bn arms funds
were diverted by top military officers.
Speaking with news men on Sunday, May 1,
a top government official, who pleaded for
anonymity, described the fraud uncovered by
the panel in the purchase of arms in the
army as “enormous.”
When asked when the third report would be
submitted to the president and be made
public, the source revealed that Buhari had
directed the panel to change tactics.
“The president has directed that we explore
the option of prosecuting indicted persons
immediately instead of first publicizing their
names, thereby giving some of them the
leeway to escape justice,” he said.
The source added that last week, the
committee discussed the prosecution of the
freshly indicted people with Abubakar
Malami, the Attorney General of the
Federation.
He noted that efforts were ongoing to make
public some achievements of the panel,
especially in the recovery of funds, ahead of
a summit on anti-corruption that President
Buhari would attend in the United Kingdom
next week.
Meanwhile, the EFCC operatives are still
investigating how the Peoples Democratic
Party allegedly bribed some officials of the
Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) before the presidential election in
2015.
On Friday, April 29, the anti-graft agency
arrested Laitan Adesanya, the chief
executive officer of Lenoil Nigeria Limited,
for his alleged role in the $115m (N23bn)
bribe funds.
Adesanya was alleged to have handed
$1.85m to the bank based on the instruction
of a former minister of petroleum resources,
Diezani Alison-Madueke.
A reliable source at the EFCC confirmed
that Adesanya was in the custody of the
commission in Lagos, where he was being
grilled by the operatives.
“We are asking him about the $1.85m he
dropped and what purpose it was supposed to
serve,” he said.
In a related development, Maurice Iwu, a
former chairman of the INEC, was declared
wanted by the anti-graft agency in
connection with a N23.29billion poll bribery
scandal.
According to a source in the EFCC, the
comission has been on his trail in the last
two weeks but he has managed to evade
arrest.
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