EFCC Petitioned Over N4.3bn Ondo Secret Account Fund

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There were indications that the Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu-led administration has been dragged to the anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as the pressure on lawmakers at the state House of Assembly to probe the controversial N4.3 billion discovered in a secret bank account by the administration has subsided.

Sources close to the Assembly on Wednesday revealed that a petition has been written and submitted to the EFCC, by some undisclosed personalities, calling for investigation into the N4.3 billion discovered in a secret account in Zenith Bank by the Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu-led administration in 2018.

The lawmakers at the state House of Assembly had alleged that the Governor Akeredolu-led administration discovered, withdrew and spent the said money without being appropriated in the 2018 Appropriation Bill presented before the Assembly in the fiscal year.

           

But a source at the anti-graft agency, which neither denied nor confirmed the reception of the petition, told Daily Independent that the agency currently engaged in skeletal work due to the ongoing lockdown.

The source revealed that the agency only opened office thrice a week-Monday to Wednesday- in compliance with the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the deadly Coronavirus.

"At present, we operate thrice a week due the COVID-19 lockdown and if the said petition is submitted at our zonal office or at the Headquarters, it would have to wait till the lockdown is lifted.

"This is because most of the institutions and offices that we work with are currently on total lockdown.

"Surely work would commence on it as soon as the lockdown is over," the source said.

The state House of Assembly through Mr. Ademola Edamisan, Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, had on Thursday last week assured the people of the state that it would unravel the intrigues surrounding the N4.3 billion state money allegedly spent illegally by the Governor Akeredolu-led administration in 2018.

The House Committee Chairman said: "They ( executive) claimed they have recovered N4.3 billion from the money but the committee is keenly interested in the actual interest generated for  over 10 years and we requested for a comprehensive details of the account.

"The committee is interested in full details on how the account is being operated over the years, who authorised the opening of the account, who are the signatories and when was the account opened.

"We hope the commissioner and the accountant-general will come out with the comprehensive details of the account, so we will be able to calculate the cost running interest so far in the account.

"The committee discovered after a thorough investigation that the said money has been transferred from the initial account in Zenith Bank to another six different state government bank accounts in less than five months from period of February to June 2018."

However, the lawmakers appeared to have chickened out when the leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) had intervened in the matter, a development which sources close to the Assembly revealed prompted some highly placed personalities in the state to file a petition before the EFCC to probe the money.


Independent

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