The Federal Government, through the
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, summoned the managing director
of a first generation bank to Abuja on Friday in connection with the
alleged salary fraud in the civil service.
The Director-General, National Pension
Commission, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, was also on Thursday seen at the
ministry of finance in what sources said was a summon by the minister.
A source, who disclosed this to Saturday PUNCH, said it was part of the ongoing investigation of the 23,000 potential ghost workers in the federal civil service.
The source said the bank headed by the
affected MD was fingered as one of the channels used for the salary
fraud which is currently being investigated.
Although details of the discussion with
the officials of the finance ministry were not made public, sources told
our correspondent that the bank MD pledged to cooperate with the probe
panel on the salary scam.
The sources added that Adeosun had vowed
to enlist the support of PenCom to investigate the activities of some
Pension Fund Administrators alleged to have played some roles in the
organised salary scam. It was in view of this, Saturday PUNCH learnt, that the PenCom boss was summoned.
It was learnt that Anohu-Amazu was
invited for a meeting with the probe panel where she was shown proofs
that some PFAs might have colluded with some civil servants to
perpetrate the scam.
According to the source, some of the PFAs were alleged to have generated fake PFA numbers for the “ghost workers.”
As such, the finance minister was said
to have promised to launch a high-powered probe into the activities of
PFAs and bring to book those found wanting.
Saturday PUNCH also learnt that
representatives of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria
equally met with the finance minister and top officials of the ministry
on Thursday for an update on the ongoing probe of the salary scam.
The ASCSN members were said to have
expressed shock and disbelief at the sheer weight of evidence against
certain categories of civil servants, financial institutions and PFAs
alleged to have ripped off the Federal Government through the
coordinated salary scam.
According to the source, the
representatives of the labour union who had stormed the meeting
suspecting a witch- hunt or deliberate plans by the Federal Government
to reduce the staff strength, were taken aback when they were confronted
with evidence that showed that certain categories of people had been
drawing salary whereas their names were not on the nominal staff
register of the federal civil service.
The source said in order to allay the
fears of the workers’ union that the exercise was not intended to lay
off workers arbitrarily; the finance minister showed the union officials
some documents generated by the probe panel so far.
These, according to the source, included letters written to some ministries and parastatals for information on personnel cost.
When contacted, the Special Adviser to
the Minister of Finance on Media Matters, Mr. Festus Akanbi, said
investigation into the potential 23,000 ghost workers in the federal
civil service is ongoing and that various investigative agencies,
including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had been briefed
on the matter.
He declined to speak on the summoning of
the bank MD and the PENCOM boss, but promised to open up at the end of
the investigation.
The minister had blown the lid on the
monumental salary scam in the civil service when she appeared before the
Senate Committee on Finance to defend her ministry’s budget last week.
She had revealed that the Bank
Verification Number and Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System
had helped the Federal Government to discover 23,000 ghost workers in
the civil service.
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