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–Pix above: House of Reps in session
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (CPC) has begun investigations into the activities of an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives allegedly involved in a bribery scandal concerning job racketeering in the Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) being probed.
ICPC’s Spokesperson, Mrs. Azuka Ogugua, in a statement on Friday, confirmed the commencement of the probe.
According to Ogugua, the commission launched the investigation following two separate petitions by Premium Times, an online media platform as well as the Chairman of the Committee, Yusuf Gagdi.
A Premium Times investigation had exposed how the lawmakers demanded bribes from the heads of federal agencies, including those of higher institutions of learning to the effect of compromising the ongoing investigation.
Premium Times said: “Our investigation revealed that the vice-chancellors paid N2 million each into a Providus Bank account number provided by the lawmakers through a middleman. Rectors of polytechnics and provosts of Colleges of Education paid N3 million each.”
Reports have it that in the last couple of days, the reps committee and some heads of universities, polytechnics and colleges have been running helter-skelter on ways to cover up the scandal.
The letter, addressed to the Chairman of the ICPC, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, called for a thorough investigation into the corruption scandal and also provided the anti-graft agencies with relevant information to aid the investigation.
“As characteristic of our organisation, we embarked on this weeks-long, painstaking investigation to expose the scandal in the public interest. We bear in mind that this is coming at a time of plummeting capacity of governments to adequately fund education and other social services that can positively affect the lives of a good number of Nigerians,” he said.
Hon. Gagdi, after hours of denying the report and attempting to deliberately undermine the crux of the investigation, also wrote a petition to the ICPC to investigate the account provided by Premium Times to establish if there is direct connection with members of the committee.
His petition, dated 30 August, was deliberately written to narrow the investigation to only the account number and direct connection with the members.
The investigation by Premium Times revealed extensive involvement of middlemen by the Reps committee, including possible collection of bribes in cash and through other third-party bank accounts./SHARE THIS
