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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Maina Accuses 7th Senate Of Aiding Pension Thieves (386 Views)
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Maina Accuses 7th Senate Of Aiding Pension Thieves by alfanio(m): 10:31am On Nov 04, 2017 |
The embattled ex-Chairman of the Presidential Task
Force on Pension Reforms, Alhaji Abdulrasheed
Maina, has accused the 7th Senate, led by David
Mark, of aiding pension thieves.
The accusation, contained in a letter which leaked
on Friday, was written to the Senate on June 19,
2015.
In the letter, Maina alleged that over N3tn hidden
had yet to be recouped from 97 pension offices
before he fled the country.
Maina said in the letter that he was seeking a
review of his case.
Saturday PUNCH on Friday reached out to the law
firm representing Maina, Messrs Mamman Nadir &
Co., on 36 Ali Akilu Road, Kaduna, which confirmed
the authenticity of the leaked letter.
The letter, referenced PRTT/PEN/NASS/SEN/16/
VOL1/05, was channelled through Senator Nneji
Achonu’s (Imo North Senatorial Zone) office to the
Senate President.
The letter was titled: “Pension reform task team —
Appeal for review of investigation by the Senate
Joint Committee on Establishment and Public
Service and States and Local Government
Administration, 2011 – 2013.”
In the letter, Maina noted that the task team, which
took off effectively in January 2011, saved the
country N1.6tn from “pension thieves,” adding that
“we used financial intelligence to achieve
groundbreaking achievements in our assignment.”
He said the team’s efforts led to the arrest of 46
persons involved in the looting of pension funds and
were handed over to the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, which is now conducting the
trial.
From the leaked letter, it appeared that the pension
boss resurfaced in the country shortly after the
inauguration of the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration on May 29, 2015.
The letter read in part, “We, members of the
Pensions Reform Task Team, wish to use this
medium to apologise for our little late response to
reaching back to you. We had to put the issues
together and source for appurtenant materials. We
appreciate your understanding, sir.
“As a refresher, the PRTT was inaugurated on June
10, 2010, by the immediate past administration of
Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, with a clear
mandate to restructure the Head of Service Pension
Office, Police Pension Office, among others. We did
our utmost best with precision and national
interests as our guiding principles.
“The PRTT took off effectively by January 2011. We
used financial intelligence skills to achieve
groundbreaking achievements in our assignment.
“N256bn is still stolen monthly. As it is, there is a
leakage of N256bn monthly from the current IPPIS,
which needs to be blocked urgently. We are also
aware of some government hidden accounts which
need to be mopped up. We can be used to engage
any department of government in sanitising the
financial workflow to avoid loose ends that remain
susceptible to leakages.
“Based on the revelations of massive/monumental
fraud and outright stealing of pension funds, which
was brought to public attention by the PRTT, the 7th
National Assembly by resolution dated November 2,
2011, mandated its Committee on Establishment and
Public Service, State and Local Government
Administration, to conduct a comprehensive
investigation into the management and
administration of Pension funds in Nigeria.
“There were general expectations that the various
dimensions of irregularities associated with the
management of pension funds in Nigeria would
come to an end as a consequence of the
investigations being conducted by the Senate Joint
Committee.”
Maina maintained that while the Senate haunted the
task team, the same body favoured the “pension
thieves,” adding that the Senate Joint Committee
ended up creating more problems than solutions to
the endemic corruption and fraud prevailing in the
system.
He said that before leaving Nigeria following threat
to his life, the PRTT had worked so hard that
pension payments stabilised.
Maina noted that the biometric system adopted by
the team exposed 73,000 ghost pensioners in the
office of the Head of Service alone.
“Some pensioners got a backlog of about 30 years
paid into their accounts. All payments were ordered
under the signature of the Head of Service monthly,”
Maina said.
Also, Maina disclosed that shortly after he was
forced out, the Office of the Head of Service was
enmeshed in a N35bn fraud.
He added that the ICPC conducted an investigation
into the matter but regretted that “till date, they
have yet to commence the prosecution.”
“Today, it (pension) is worse with the Police
Pension Office, where millions are taken out of
pension funds daily. We have pieces of evidence to
substantiate this,” he added.
Maina noted that his dismissal process was
concluded under 36 hours without giving him the
opportunity to be heard.
“As we write to you, Abdulrasheed A. Maina has
been dismissed from the Civil Service for being
absent for three days, while his life was under
threat following a gunshot attack on his person in
front of the Head of Civil Service Office, where his
office was located in February, 2013. Attached are
copies of letters from the Nigeria Police Force.
ANNEXURE 3 (a) and (b),” the statement said.
http://punchng.com/maina-accuses-7th-senate-of-aiding-pension-thieves/ |
Re: Maina Accuses 7th Senate Of Aiding Pension Thieves by alfanio(m): 10:34am On Nov 04, 2017 |
Nigeria is a maze of a country you could get lost in the myriad of claims and counterclaims 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: Maina Accuses 7th Senate Of Aiding Pension Thieves by Spexo001(m): 12:37pm On Nov 04, 2017 |
Lets see how it unfolds |
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