ICPC revealed in a statement yesterday that the governor’s Special Assistant, Prince Akano and former deputy governor, Jude Agbaso, were part of the scam in which a construction company allegedly got N1.45 billion for the project awarded for N1.15 billion and abandoned the work after executing it up to a point valued at just N300 million.
The commission added that investigations at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) revealed that the governor’s aide who is also the chairman, Committee on Monitoring and Implementation of Road Projects in Imo State, Prince Akano, was a director in the allegedly erring construction company, JPROS International.
ICPC which gave the revelation following the recent demonstration by women of Imo State against anti-corruption agencies, also revealed how state officials obtained a loan of N73 billion and used the allocations of all the state local governments for the next three years as collateral.
The ICPC said it is not correct that anti-graft agencies merely wanted to witch-hunt the governor and state officials but that petitions were received from the state as far back as December 2012 and March 2013 to investigate the issues.
The second petition, ICPC said, was received from the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Imo State, alleging misappropriation of the N73 billion loan.
“In a bid to frustrate further investigation, Akanno instituted a civil suit challenging the authority of the Commission and the investigation team led by Chukwura to summon him to clarify issues.
“The second petition was sent to the Commission by the Association for Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Imo State Chapter, alleging misappropriation and diversion of N73 billion belonging to the 27 local governments of the state for which three years statutory allocation to the local governments were used as collateral.”
The petition further alleged that “the Speaker of the House and his men were beneficiaries of these contracts in order to prevent them from carrying out their oversight functions on the projects.”
It also stated that while several letters of invitation were sent to 12 functionaries in the state, only five of them honoured the invitation. Those who honoured the invitations are the Clerk, Imo State House of Assembly; the Branch Manager of Zenith Bank Plc.; Branch Manager of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc; Accountant-General of the State and Commissioner for Finance.
“Seven others are yet to show up. They are the Secretary to the State Government; the Principal Secretary to the State Governor; the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources; the State Commissioner for Works; the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and the Commissioner for Local Government and Branch Manager of Diamond Bank Plc, Owerri,” ICPC said.
Instead of honouring the invitation of the Commission, the suspects were said to have dragged ICPC and its investigators to court, seeking the enforcement of their fundamental human rights. culled from Guardian
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