The final report of the Senate ad-hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian
\nCrisis in the North East has revealed that contractors paid over N500m in
\nkickbacks to a company linked to the suspended Secretary to the Government
\nof the Federation, Babachir David Lawal.<\/p>\n
An interim report, late last year, had indicted Lawal for due process
\nviolation in award of contracts under Presidential Initiatives on North
\nEast (PINE)<\/p>\n
The over N500m discovered by the committee was paid to Rholavision
\nEngineering Limited.<\/p>\n
The report presented by the chairman of the committee Senator Shehu Sani
\n(APC, Kaduna Central), to Senate at plenary yesterday is expected to be
\nconsidered today.<\/p>\n
Recall that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-led committee investigating
\nallegations against Lawal last week requested the Senate to produce
\nrelevant documents on the matter.<\/p>\n
In the final report, the Sani panel submitted that N507m was paid into
\nLawal\u2019s company account by seven PINE contractors.<\/p>\n
It alleged that JOSMON technologies limited which got two contracts,
\namounting to N530m from PINE, paid N317m to the company of the suspended
\nSGF in 23 transfers.<\/p>\n
The panel also said JMI global technologies limited, was awarded eight
\ncontracts amounting to N199m by PINE and it paid N30m from Zenith bank
\naccount number 114357188 into Rholavision account with EcoBank<\/p>\n
Also, Messers Adamawa Borehole and Drilling Company which was awarded
\ncontract to renovate seven number of 18 classrooms at Yeskule Girls
\nSecondary School Michika in Adamawa state at N54.8m transferred N18.3m to
\nthe suspended SGF\u2019s company.<\/p>\n
Another N58m was paid to Lawal\u2019s company by Yuby Ventures limited which
\nwas awarded a contract of five number of 15 classrooms at Hausari Primary
\nSchool in Adamawa.<\/p>\n
The panel also uncovered that Barde Brothers multi-Services Limited which
\nwas awarded seven contracts for renovation of classrooms in Adamawa state
\nat N145.6m paid N71m to Rholavision in three instalments.<\/p>\n
The company also paid another N13m into personal account (no. 0003004417)
\nof the suspended SGF at Diamond bank in three instalments.<\/p>\n
The committee said it discovered that the suspended SGF resigned in
\nSeptember 2016, but that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed
\nthat he was the signatory to accounts of the company as at Wednesday, 15th
\nFebruary 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the course of its investigation, the committee observed that
\nRholavision Engineering Limited has become a destination pool for
\ncompanies that were awarded contracts by PINE and other government
\nagencies to make payments into its (Rholavision) account no. 0182001809
\nwith ECObank, \u201cit said.<\/p>\n
The committee recommended that further investigation be carried out by
\nrelevant agencies of government on why contract benefiting companies paid
\nover N500m into Rholavision Engineering Limited, a company in which the
\nsuspended SGF has interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe banks transaction of Rholavision Engineering Limited and the
\nconfirmation by CBN that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) of Babachir
\nDavid Lawal is still the signatory to Rholavision and 13 other accounts,
\nsome with different names.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe committee is of the opinion that Lawal has contravened the provision
\nof part 1 of the fifth schedules of the 1999 Constitution and the breach
\nthe oaths of office as SGF and therefore he should be prosecuted,\u201d the
\ncommittee stated.<\/p>\n
The panel also said that all resources that had been misapplied or stolen
\nby public officials should be retrieved and that anybody found culpable of
\ncontravening any of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act and the
\nFederal government financial rules and regulations pertaining to the award
\nof these contracts should be duly prosecuted.<\/p>\n
It also said that relevant agencies should ensure that contracts partially
\nexecuted but fully paid for must be completed by the concerned
\ncontractors.<\/p>\n
The panel further said that since it was observed that there was no bill
\nof quantities on most of the contracts awarded by PINE under the emergency
\nsituation, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) should undertake a
\nrevaluation of all such contracts to recover any proceeds from
\nover-inflated contracts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The final report of the Senate ad-hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East has revealed that contractors paid over N500m in kickbacks to a company linked to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n