The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has indicted the embattled Chairman of the disbanded Presidential Task Force on Pension Reform, Abdulrasheed Maina, claiming that he was also a member of the pension fraud syndicate before he broke out following irreconcilable disagreement.
In a Chat with Vanguard, the AGF said those fuelling media propaganda against his person were doing so to frustrate the prosecution of high profile looters of the pension fund. He disclosed that the pension frauds permeate institutions such as NITEL, NIPOST, NEPA, NRC, NPA, NNPC and PHCH among others.
He also revealed that though the Federal Civil Service presents 258, 000 persons for payment monthly, the actual figure is 141, 762, leaving a differential of 116, 238 ghost pensioners. Malami who said there are 66 bank accounts being used to carry out the pension fraud accused Maina of being a member of the syndicate before breaking out.
Pension fraud was perpetrated by public officials to siphon humongous amounts in conjunction with, and with the active connivance of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, NUP, Director of Pension Accounts, State Pension Boards, and Association of Federal Public Service Retirees, among others. Proceeds of the fraud are usually shared among the members of the syndicate.
Mr. Maina has been part of this syndicate but things fell apart between him and the syndicate and he left the shores of Nigeria upon alleged threat to his life.
It may interest Nigerians to know that the Federal Government of Nigeria had from 2008 to 2013 made sizeable recoveries of stolen pension funds. The position of these recoveries needs to be verified.
What happened to the monies recovered from the syndicate? What about the 270 property, comprising real estate and motor vehicles? This is what the syndicate is labouring hard to cover up using media hype against anyone that has shown interest in lifting the veil.
In case you are interested in having the breakdown of the recoveries, please find them listed here below: N2,800,000,000, $3,000,000, 3,500 euro, N16,185,131,847.09k through the OHCSF Pension Account No: 0023682604 domiciled with Union Bank Plc and over 270 property and motor vehicles.
‘There are 12 criminal charges bordering on variants of financial crimes currently pending at different courts, with an aggregate value of N14.3 billion.
The on-going cases are being continuously compromised by the powerful syndicate. Senior lawyers were being withdrawn from the prosecution of these cases and very junior lawyers were assigned to handle them.
The intention was always to slow down the progress of the cases and turn back the hands of the clock both in terms of speed and sustenance of the coordinated memory. Principal actors in the syndicate were left off the hook and never charged while the low profile actors are left to their fate standing trial.
