• Petitions Mark,
accuses joint committee of bias
• Recovers N241b from pension cabal
In a dramatic turn of events, Chairman of the Federal
Government’s Pension Task Team (PTT), AbdulRasheed Maina has written Senate
President, David Mark accusing the Senate Joint Committees investigating
pension funds administration of bias.
In the petition, Maina reiterated that the team’s mandate did
not extend to military pension over which the committee was hounding him. Last
week, the Senate President signed the warrant of Maina’s arrest after he was
declared wanted by the Senate Joint Committees on Establishment and Public
Service and States and Local Government Administration over the whereabouts of
N195 billion missing pension funds. Maina has also accused the Senator Aloysius
Etok-led Committee of treating known cabals in pension funds, who were already
being prosecuted with kid gloves.
He equally disclosed that the PTT had so far recovered N241
billion pension funds hidden in private accounts for government, adding that
part of the money had been incorporated into the national budget. Speaking
during a press briefing at the weekend, the PTT boss said efforts to work with
the committee were rebuffed when the clerk of the committee told him that it
was only performing its statutory oversight duties. “The recent noise over N195
billion was all wrong.
In the budget, there is what they call proposed budget, which
means what a ministry proposes to spend in a year.
There is also what they call an envelope, government looks at
the ministry and says, we can only give you this amount and whatever is
approved goes back to the Accountant-General for them to release what is
approved in the envelope.
Then, somebody sits down to say N195 billion is missing. “I have
been saying that I am ready to partner Senate to uncover the N195billion but
when we went for the public hearing for the first time, we were intimidated and
not allowed to talk because the cabal had gone to give false information to the
Senate Committee.
“The committee was misinformed. The last time, they said I
should just answer ‘yes or no.’ Most of the people invited along with me last
week did not come but nobody said anything. It is only Maina they wanted his
head. “I have never worked well with the Senate Committee investigating the
pension funds management but I have good working relationship with the National
Assembly. The committee initiated the public hearing because a lot of things
had happened underneath.
But I don’t want to indict anybody. The cabal wants the old
order to remain. “We went the last time, they refused to allow me talk. The
whole sitting was choreographed. They could not let me talk because they know
that if I do, I will hit them and while the probe was going on, they went ahead
to fight me in the newspapers and television. “I knew it was all about killing
what we are doing.
So, I wrote to the Senate President, telling him that we don’t
have confidence in the committee because they are biased. When you go to a
court of law to complain that a judge is biased, he will not sit on the
judgement seat again. “So, when they invited us, we told them we had written a
complaint to Senate President’s office that they were biased and there is no
way we can get fair hearing from them.”
“We also pleaded that Senate President should make someone else
chairman of the committee so that I could be allowed to talk. “I have never
been allowed to talk but they listened to one Toyin Ishola, who under oath,
said I opened an account with Fidelity Bank in my brother’s name and deposited
N8 billion. He gave the account number and people quickly went to the bank.
When they got there, they discovered that the same Toyin Ishola was a signatory
to the account and it read ‘Police Pension.’
“We, as task team are interested in working with the Senate to
recover the money because we have the expertise and technical knowledge to go
after it and recover it. “If it is in people’s account, we will recover it and
if people stole it, we will find them out.
We have a track history of doing that but first, people must
understand the difference between proposals, envelope and releases.” He also
spoke on the N241 billion recovered for government. “Recently, we discovered
that there were some amount of money hidden in other accounts apart from the
N221 billion we sent to the government. I have not said this out because we are
still under investigation. “It is over N20 billion. This money has been hidden
in some accounts that are dormant for over three years.
As soon as we get through with our investigation, we will report
to the Minister of Finance to instruct the Accountant General to move the money
to Central Bank where special account is opened for such money. “Our detractors
thought we have an account and we are keeping money.
We only go to the bank, see account balance and write a
document. We have all the security agencies in our midst. We have this
coordination but people don’t know. They give false information to the Senate
Committee and they sit down on false information without verifying. “If you are
given an assignment as a committee, I feel the first person you will look for
is the person in charge of the team.
We are the depository of the data base of the Civil Service, we
ought to have been invited first so that we go round the country with the
committee investigating management of pension fund but nobody invited us. “I
only see them on the television and I wonder how they could coordinate their
investigation without us. I called the clerk of the committee to find out why they
did not involve us in the investigation as stakeholders, who have information
you need to do your work but he said it was an oversight duty of the
committee.”
The committee went ahead to mandate the Inspector General of
Police, Mohammed Abubakar to arrest Maina, even though he was physically
present at the public hearing on the matter. But Maina has promised to honour
the committee’s invitation, adding, “I will be there. I will go very early.”
Maina is expected to appear before the committee on Wednesday.
Source: Sun
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