Benue drags Buhari’s minister to EFCC, ICPC over N4.5bn ‘fraud’

Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, has been dragged before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) over N4.56 billion alleged fraud.

The Benue State Government in a letter of complaint to the anti-graft agencies alleged that Akume was involved in misappropriation of public funds while serving as governor for eight years.

The letter which was also sent to the Inspector General of Police was written by counsel to the Benue State Government, Okeoga Darlington, Esq.

The allegations range from abuse of office and public trust, misappropriation of public funds, and approvals above limit.

The Samuel Ortom-led administration accused Akume of selling N33,440,818 units of shares at the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC). The equity was worth billions of naira. The state government alleged that the former governor appropriated the amount to himself and “has refused, failed or neglected to account for same till date.”

The former governor was also accused of misappropriating ecological funds totalling N300 million.

Akume recently accused Ortom of incompetence and corruption.

The allegations were generated from an audit report spanning between 1999 and 2007 when Akume served as governor.

The letter stated: “He (Akume) unilaterally approved the sum of N117 million which is above his approval limit without recourse to the State Executive Council meeting.

“The reckless financial expenditures were said to be for consultancy and feasibility study for Mbatiav Cement which turned out to be a white elephant project that never saw the light of the day.

“Further findings according to the petition also alleged financial indiscipline, abuse of fiscal policies and misappropriation for various contracts amounting to N3,125,882,409.25 billion.”

The petition added that many projects executed by the former governors were not located anywhere.

The letter read in part that: “During the audit report, it was also discovered that under the watch of the former governor, a loan of N150 million was taken from defunct Afribank in December 2000 for purchase of shares in companies but the money was transferred to All Securities Limited for which no receipts were found for the transaction.

“It was also discovered during the audit that the former the former Governor Akume claimed to have executed ‘many projects’ that were never located which the petition deemed to be an aberration of due process, abuse of fiscal policies and criminal violation of relevant laws.

“Regrettably, many of such projects, valued at N1,074,017,023.65 billion were not accounted for as there was no evidence of their execution anywhere.”