{"id":49052,"date":"2016-05-07T19:20:07","date_gmt":"2016-05-07T18:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=49052"},"modified":"2016-05-07T19:20:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T18:20:07","slug":"efcc-set-arrest-former-minister-onyebuchi-chukwu-3-8million-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/efcc-set-arrest-former-minister-onyebuchi-chukwu-3-8million-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"EFCC Set To Arrest Former Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu over\u00a0 $3.8million fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baring any last minutes change of plans, the Economic and Financial Crimes
\nCommission, EFCC, may arrest a former Minister for Health, Prof. Onyebuchi
\nChukwu, over the stealing of $3.8million meant for the fight against AIDS,
\nTuberculosis and Malaria in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Sources told Pointblanknews.com that investigators have compiled over 80
\npages of documents which detailed how funds from foreign donor agencies
\nwere stolen by officials of the Health Ministry between 2010 and 2015 when
\nProf Chukwu served as Minister.<\/p>\n

A senior operative with the EFCC told pointblanknews.com<\/a> that some of the
\nfunds have been traced to bank accounts belonging to some senior officials
\nof the Health Ministry in commercial banks.<\/p>\n

“We have been doing a lot of work in the Health Ministry for sometimes now
\nespecially with regards to funds from donor agencies stolen by officials
\nof the Ministry and we have traced some to some accounts in about four
\ncommercial banks.”<\/p>\n

According to the operative who does not want to be named because he is not
\nauthorized to speak to the press on the on-going investigation, the former
\nMinister, a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and some
\nDirectors are going to be invited by the EFCC.<\/p>\n

“Once we tidy up some few things, we are going to invite the former
\nMinister, Perm Secretary and some Directors in the Ministry before
\ncharging them to court. This case is a clear one because the documents and
\ninformation we have are too damning.”<\/p>\n

The source disclosed that in some instances, investigators were able to
\nmatch the dates when funds arrived the Ministry’s accounts, and\u00a0 when they
\nmoved from the Ministry’s accounts to several personal accounts belonging
\nto officials of the Ministry.<\/p>\n

Some of the funds, according to the source, could not be traced to any
\naccount and may either have been spent by the former Minister to fund his
\nGovernorship campaign in 2015.<\/p>\n

Only recently, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
\nsuspended payments to Nigeria’s AIDS agency over evidence that $3.8
\nmillion was stolen by its workers and consultants, the Geneva-based agency
\nsaid.<\/p>\n

Fund spokesman Seth Faison, said Nigeria’s government has promised to
\nrepay the money and to prosecute suspects.<\/p>\n

A report by the fund’s inspector general says seven government workers and
\nthree information technology consultants stole the money over five years
\nbetween 2010 and 2014. It said the fraud continued because the National
\nAgency for the Control of AIDS did not carry out proper audits.<\/p>\n

The missing money is 95 percent of the amount budgeted to implement,
\nadminister and train users of a web-based reporting platform, according to
\nthe report, but a fraction of the $1.4 billion the fund has spent fighting
\nAIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Nigeria \u2014 its biggest recipient.<\/p>\n

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation of 170 million, has the world’s
\nsecond highest number of people infected with AIDS after South Africa, it
\nreports one-third of all deaths from malaria in Africa and is among the
\ntop 22 countries with the most TB patients.<\/p>\n

Corruption is endemic in Nigeria and hundreds of people are being
\nprosecuted since President Muhammadu Buhari won elections a year ago
\npromising to halt graft.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization accused
\nMinistry of Health officials of malpractice and fraud during an audit of
\n40 percent of the $29 million it spent in the West African nation between
\n2011 and 2013. Nigeria repaid GAVI $2.2 million.<\/p>\n

Nigerian officials could not immediately be reached to comment on the
\nlatest scandal, which involves falsified expense receipts.<\/p>\n

“When this information was first confirmed, we immediately suspended
\ndisbursements to the agencies involved on April 12, and sent fiscal agents
\nto monitor expenses,” spokesman Faison told The Associated Press. He said
\nthe fund might cease all funding to those agencies.<\/p>\n

The Nigerian charity ProjektHope said the suspension endangers AIDS
\ntreatment as only 750,000 of the country’s 1.8 million with HIV are
\nreceiving antiretroviral drugs, almost all supplied by international
\ncharities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baring any last minutes change of plans, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, may arrest a former Minister for Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, over the stealing of $3.8million meant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nEFCC Set To Arrest Former Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu over\u00a0 $3.8million fraud - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/efcc-set-arrest-former-minister-onyebuchi-chukwu-3-8million-fraud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EFCC Set To Arrest Former Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu over\u00a0 $3.8million fraud - 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