The Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, on Thursday, said a Federal Pay Officer who allegedly diverted N103m meant for three Federal Government colleges had been selling off his properties to pay back the loot.
The ICPC Chairman said while the commission had recovered N53m from the suspect, he would remain in the commission’s custody till the recovery of the balance.
Nta said this at the 2nd Annual Colloquium organised by the law office of Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, in Abuja on Wednesday.
The ICPC boss said the commission had recorded successes in the fight against corruption, starting with the recovery of assets seized from officials of government who he said were being investigated for living above their means.
He said although the law provided that anyone whose assets were seized had the right to challenge the seizure within one year. He stressed that nobody had attempted doing so to prove his innocence.
Nta said, “We just returned close to N1bn to the Federal Ministry of Environment and N53m to three colleges in Ogun State.
“An official in the ministry took the money and lodged it into a dedicated account. We tracked it and recovered the money. The N53m we just returned to the schools was recovered from a Federal Pay Officer in Ogun State.
“The man is currently in custody and we will keep him there so that we will be able to recover the entire N103m that he took. He has been disposing of his properties to ensure that he pays up.
“The sum of N103m taken by the Federal Pay Officer was meant for feeding of students in those schools. These are what we have been doing to return integrity to the society.”
The ICPC boss had handed over the sum of N924m diverted from the account of the Federal Ministry of Environment to the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Nana Nebe, at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
Same day, Nta also handed over the sum of N56.2m to three Federal Government Colleges – the Federal Government College, Odogbolu; Federal Government Girls College, Sagamu; and Federal Science Technical College, Ijebu Mushin. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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When will these people face punishment? Returning stolen goods is no punishment.
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