THUR, JUNE 08 2023-theGBJournal |Federal House of Representatives committee has asked the in-coming 10th National Assembly to consider the passage of a comprehensive whistleblower act as a priority in its legislative agenda following a slew of questionable allegations by some whistleblowers and questionable payments made by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The Committee said Wednesday said that the Act will be of immense benefit to the country in the fight against corruption and will enhance Nigeria’s status in the global anti-corruption index.
The committee also recommended a further detailed investigation by the 10th assembly into the whistleblower and other recoveries made by the federal government including utilization of these funds and evidence of same.
The Committee’s recommendations follows their invistigation into allegations made against the NIMASA Director General, the current Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, the questionable N16 billion payment by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) into a bank and the case against the owners of the Sandesara Group which includes Sterling Global Oil and Gas and Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company Limited who were found to have been accused by the Indian security and antigraft authorities of defrauding banks in India to the tune of almost $2 billion and are accused by the Indian authorities of being fugitives in Nigeria evading justice in India.
According to the report by the Committee, the Indian authorities requested the extradition of these Indian national from Nigeria but claim the Nigerian government refused to honour their request.
The committee confirmed these individuals are doing business in Nigeria and the attorney general of the federation claims the case against these individuals appears to be politically motivated because of their support for an opposition party in India.
The Committee also dismissed the allegation against the current Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority.
He was alleged to have obtained payment from a company called Trepole Nigeria Limited and awarded choice contracts to the company.
The Committee said from its investigations, the allegations were unsubstantiated going by account statements and testimony of bank officials.
Besides, the committee confirmed the payment of N16.250 billion into each of the bank accounts of Bizplus Consulting Services Limited and GSCL Consulting Services Limited by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
”Both accounts were opened by the bank for each company about the same time, payment was made by the CBN to both accounts on the same day, the money was withdrawn from both accounts within the same period of about 2 months and from account statements submitted by the bank both accounts were not operated again thereafter. It appears both accounts were opened only for the purpose of lodgment of these payments,” the Committee said.
The Committee noted that the accountant general and the Ministry of Finance claim not to have any knowledge of these payments or the reasons for same while the Central Bank of Nigeria and Accountant Generals office did not respond to its queries in this regard.
Following their findings, the Committee recommended that a detailed forensic investigation should be carried out by the related House committee in the 10th assembly to ascertain the facts and reasons behind the Central Bank of Nigeria’s payment of N16.250 billion into each of the bank’s accounts of Bizplus Consulting Services Limited and GSCL Consulting Services Limited.
Rep. Mark Gbillah stated that the Ad-Hoc Committee worked hard to get to the source of the issues and the perpetrators of the fraud have been captured and incarcerated.
He however stated that the Committee found out that some other allegations, especially against NIMASA were found to be false.
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