Those expressing shock about the Pension Fund Boss who embezzled N23.3 billion was fined N250 thousand and allowed to go home today should wonder no more as its now in the open that the chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde, was mentioned as one of the 50 high ranking serving public
officers that benefited from the alleged multi-billion Naira scam.
A court in Nigeria today sentenced a man who once helped oversee the nation's police pension to two years in prison over the theft of N23.3billion from the fund. However, he has avoided serving any time by paying a fraction of that in fines. John Yakubu Yusufu pleaded guilty Monday in a Federal High Court in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but avoided being imprisoned as he paid a N250,000 fine. He went home Monday a free man after also promising to forfeit another N325 million.
The sentence immediately caused an outcry in Nigeria, a nation where corruption pervades government and private life. Many blamed president Goodluck Jonathan for the anomaly, but those in the know said they don't expect otherwise seeing that Lamorde who heads EFCC that prosecuted the case was involved the scam.
Commenting on a list serve Ksim Sulaiman said: "Courts are not father chrismas, they only give what you asked for. In this case, the law did peg the minimum as well as the maximum punishment for each offence. It is the responsibility of the draftsman at the beginning to draft the charge that best suit the case at hand.
"Having done that, the responsibility to convince the court rest entirely on the prosecution and in their final address, they must restate their prayer for the court to convict the accused as charged. At the end of the trial, the court will look at the charge, the evidence advanced before finally giving its verdict.
"May be the prosecution instead of charging the accused with a provision with higher punishment they opt for the one with the short punishment."
The shocking revelations of Lamorde's culpability in the scam which were substantiated by documents presented to the Senate committee probing the deal also indicted former Head of Service of the Federation, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi and former Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim as beneficiaries of the scam.
They were said to have received the N240 million through the police pension task team for their overseas travels for the biometric exercise.
Assistant Chief Accountant in the Police Pension Office, Mr. Toyin Ishola, in documents he provided the Senate committee investigating pension management in the country said the EFCC chairman, the former inspector-general of police and former head of service were among the 50 people penciled down to travel abroad to conduct biometric exercise for less than 20 retired police officers.
He added that the fund meant for the foreign trip was paid into the accounts of the three men.
According to the document submitted to the committee, Lamorde's name was number 11 on the list and he was supposed to travel to Atlanta, Georgia for the biometric exercise.
But, both Lamorode and Afolabi have denied the allegation, saying that there was no time any money was paid into their accounts.
They maintained that the account numbers listed in the document presented to the committee by the pension task force do not belong to them.
Suspected Police Pension Fund thieves hide their hide in shame during a court session
Lamorde said that 'I never travelled out of Nigeria even though my name is on the list that was to travel abroad for the biometric exercise and the account number on that list is not mine because I do not operate an account with First Bank.'
Prof. Afolabi also told the committee that he met a system in the civil service whereby anybody that has anything to do with pension in the country is compromised, adding that he tried as much as possible to do what he can to stop the mismanagement of pension.
In April last year the Senate Joint Committee on Investigations into Pension Administration asked the Police to probe the allegation that the Pension Reform Task Team paid N5.8m into the account of the former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, and her successor, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde.
The committee said it had become imperative to get to the roots of the allegation that Waziri and Lamorde, who both denied the allegation, collected the N5.8m to travel abroad for biometric verification.
The Assistant Chief Account, Mr. Toyin Ishola, in his presentation, insisted that the N5.8m withdrawn by Madubuike and handed over to Yusuf was meant for Lamorde and Waziri.
“I urge the committee to investigate further and you will find out that the money was actually paid to them,” he insisted.
When Chairman of the committee, Senator Aloysius Etok, asked the EFCC to investigate the matter, Ishola protested, saying the EFCC was not in a position to investigate a case in which it was indicted.
Etok, however, reversed himself and directed that the Police should take over the investigation and verification of the details of payments to Waziri and Lamorde.
The committee also heard how members of the PRTT used bank accounts of employees of the Police Pensions Office to siphon about N5.9bn of the funds belonging to the office.
Waziri, however, said banks helped the corrupt civil servants to siphon the pension funds in their desperation to make money.
“Without bank collusion, they could not have stolen these billions, it is the banks and they knew it,” she said.
Appearing before the committee, Mr. Christian Madubuike, an employee of the Police Pensions Office, admitted that several amounts totalling N5.9bn were paid into his accounts by the office between 2007 and 2012.
He said it was the practice in the office for accounts of the officials of the office to receive payments and the said amounts would be withdrawn by the account owner who returned the money to the authorising officer.
Madubuike said, “They paid money into the accounts of staff of the office and the money is withdrawn and returned to the Assistant Director, Mr. John Yusuf (a member of the PRTT). That is the practice.
“Monies were paid into my account without my knowledge, but my boss would call me and tell me that money had been paid into my account and I should go and withdraw it and return it to him.
“Since everybody in the office withdrew the money paid into their accounts and returned it, I could not disobey my superior as I am the most junior in that section.”
He said the N5.8m allegedly paid to the EFCC officials was first paid into his account after which he was instructed to withdraw the sum, which he did, and presented to Yusuf.
Another member of the Accounts Department of the Police Pensions Office, Magareth Oyoebi, confirmed that it was the practice for accounts of employees to be used to receive payments from the pension funds.
Co-Chairman of the committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya, read from the statement of account of Madubuike on the details of the payments and withdrawals from the account.
He said, “In 2007, N1.8m was paid into your account; 2010, N1.8m; another N2.8m was again paid. In 2011, N400,000 and in one day, N2.1m was paid which was divided into three installments.”
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