The special presidential
investigation panel (SPIP) for the recovery of public property says it has
recovered $7 million illegally kept in Heritage Bank.
Okoi Obono-Obla, chairman of the
panel, disclosed this while briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on activities
of the panel.
Lucie-Ann Laha, spokesperson of
the SPIP, made this known in a statement on Tuesday.
Laha quoted Obono-Obla as telling
the president that the panel had also recovered N533 million and land worth
N1.5 billion, all from the “previous management” of NEXIM Bank.
He said the recovered funds and
property had since been returned to the bank.
Obono-Obla said the panel had
also recovered and returned to the National Theatre, N24 million which was
allegedly diverted by some directors of the agency.
Also recovered, he said, were two
hectares of land in Abuja valued at over N2 billion, belonging to the National
Council of Arts and Culture.
The chairman said the panel also
recovered and returned a part of Agura Hotel belonging to the Nigerian Ports
Authority (NPA).
He said the recovered part of the
hotel had been illegally “annexed by some so-called powerful persons with
untouchable connections for over 20 years”.
Other recoveries by the SPIP,
according to Obono-Obla, are 19 official sports utility vehicles allegedly made
away with by former commissioners of the National Population Commission (NPC)
after their tenures in office.
He said the panel had charged a
former director in the federal ministry of power, works and housing to court
for failure to declare his assets.
The assets include houses in
upscale areas of Abuja, a quarry and a farm within the federal capital
territory, for which a court has granted an interim forfeiture order, he said.
“The SPIP is also investigating
some members of the national assembly and former governors for a range of
alleged offences,” Obono-Obla said in the briefing.
“These include illegal purchase
of designated official residences for principal officers of the national
assembly excluded from the monetisation policy at giveaway prices.
“Others are purchase of several
property worth hundreds of millions in various currencies, and flagrant abuse
of office thus causing financial adversity to the nation.”
He said the SPIP was partnering
with the UK’s home secretary to ensure that some public officers “perceived to
have looted public funds and illegally acquired assets both in Nigeria and the
UK’’ were prevented from entering that country.
The SPIP chairman equally told
Buhari that the panel was beaming its searchlight on several companies for a
wide range of alleged offences.
Some of the companies, he said,
are Celtel, for alleged tax evasion since 2005; Western Oil and Gas, for
illegally drilling crude oil in Delta, and seven others for alleged failure to
pay royalties to the federal government in about 10 years.
He said some multinational oil
companies based in Egi Kingdom, Rivers, were also being investigated for
allegedly conniving with unscrupulous individuals to dodge their obligations to
the community to the tune of N38 billion and $30 million.
“Also under investigation by the
panel is another company, which has failed to to fulfill its contractual agreement
to dredge the Calabar Channel, years after receiving $12 million,” he said in
the briefing
“The panel has also compiled a
list of over 200 past and serving public officers perceived to have illegally
enriched themselves at the expense of the nation and the Nigerian people, among
others.”
Buhari, according to the SPIP
spokesperson, assured the panel of his continued support and non-interference
in line with his administration’s stance on the anti-corruption fight.
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