The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has opened investigations into the massive fraud that characterized the eight-year administration of the immediate past Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.
The probe by the commission followed the massive discovery of the forensic auditors engaged by the current Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti.
Sources in the commission confided in THE WHISTLER that a thorough probe of the administration of Ikpeazu has commenced.
One of the sources in the commission told THE WHISTLER that the probe by investigators in the commission will cover broad areas such as allegation of misappropriation of funds, violation of the public procurement laws of Abia State, the diversion of the N10bn which the governor raised money for from UBA that was paid to Ferotex Construction company for the execution of “non-existent” airport project among others.
Another source told THE WHISTLER that the commission has received copies of the forensic audit report prepared by KPMG Advisory Services that indicted the governor of financial recklessness during his eight years in office.
The report was submitted by the administration of Dr Alex Otti to the EFCC. The Commission upon receipt of the report commended the governor, stating that this is the first of its kind in the country.
The Commission added that the forensic audit report has made the investigations to be done by EFCC operatives on the alleged misappropriation of funds of the immediate past administration easier.
Analysis of the forensic audit report done by THE WHISTLER has unraveled how the ex-governor and state officials circumvented the Public Procurement Law of Abia State in the award of various contracts running into billions of naira.
The revelation of the violation of the procurement law in the award of the multibillionaire contracts is coming just a few days after the ex-governor issued a statement about the projects his administration implemented during his eight years in office.
Ikpeazu was governor of Abia State between 2015 and 2023.
THE WHISTLER had last week exclusively reported how the government paid the sum of N10bn to Ferotex Construction Company for the execution of the controversial ‘non-existent’ Abia Airport Project.
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The report had put the ex-governor and his officials in the spotlight as many Nigerians have started calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to arrest and prosecute them for corruption.
The former governor had in response to THE WHISTLER’s report through his then Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, claimed that the airport funding was diverted for other road projects.
Findings revealed that the N10bn appropriated by the State Assembly cannot be used to finance any project other than the airport project without a virement which must be duly approved by the lawmakers.
Budget Virement means the process of transferring budgeted funds from one line item to another, with the approval of the lawmakers, to enable budget managers to amend budgets in the light of experience or to reflect anticipated changes.
Checks by THE WHISTLER at the Abia State House of Assembly revealed that there was no request from the ex-governor for the virement of the N10bn airport fund for a road project.
Further findings by THE WHISTLER revealed that many of the contracts which the governor had claimed to have awarded and funded were done in violation of the public procurement laws of the state.
Contract Awarding Process For Abia State Government
A review of the Abia State Public Procurement Law 2012 and Financial Regulations 2001, revealed that the contracting process is as follows:
a. The contract award process could either be initiated by the procuring Ministry through a letter to the Governor or by the State Governor directly.
b. The State Governor directly identifies projects, due to the strategic and economic need of the State, and then mobilizes the Ministry to commence the contracting process.
c. The procuring Ministry also initiates a request through a letter to the State Governor requesting approval to commence a project, which would have been budgeted for in ABSG’s Annual Budget.
d. The procuring Ministry advertises and solicits for bids through the following procurement methods:
i. Selective Tendering: The procuring Ministry selects existing contractors based on the contractors’ previous performance and capacity to deliver on the contract. This process is considered, where the project is urgent or upon urgent request of the State Governor and the general tendering process is assessed to be time consuming.
ii. Open Competitive Bidding: The procuring Ministry advertises for bids in the State’s newspaper, on its notice board, in at least two national newspapers and on any official website of the procuring entity.
e. The Procuring entity utilizes the period between the advertisement and bid submission deadline to prepare in-house estimates.
f. The Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB) opens submitted bids in the presence of the procuring Ministry and bidders or their representatives.
g. The MTB evaluates the submitted bids and forwards a brief of the meeting (which includes the analysis of the tenders and the recommended contractor) to the State’s Tenders Board, referred to as Finance and General Purpose Committee (F&GPC), where the contract is ₦50,000,000 and above for consideration.
