Former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, and four others are set to face trial for their roles in the unfortunate March 15, 2014 immigration recruitment exercise that killed no fewer than 20 job seekers across the country.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, after five months of intensive investigations, has finally slammed an 11- count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, procurement fraud and money laundering on Moro; permanent secretary of the ministry at the time, Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia; a deputy director in the ministry, F. O Alayebami; one Mahmood Ahmadu(at large), and the contracting firm given the recruitment job, Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.
The defendants are accused of defrauding 676, 675,000 Nigerian applicants of N676.675 million, as the applicants paid N1000 each through an e-payment platform for their online recruitment exercise into the Nigerian Immigration Service.
The accused are also alleged to have contravened the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the contract awards by not following the necessary procedure laid down by the government.
The award of the contract to Drexel Tech Nig Ltd, the EFCC said had no prior advertisement, no needs assessment and a procurement plan was not carried out before the contract was awarded.
The contract was awarded through selective tendering procedure by invitation of four firms without seeking the approval of the Bureau for Public Procurement, contrary to sections 40, 42 and 43 of the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 and punishable under section 58 of the same act, the anti-graft agency said.
Drexel Tech Global Nigeria Limited, the company that provided the online enlistment and recruitment services is said to be unregistered and had no legal capacity to enter into the said contract.
There is also said to be no budgetary provision for the exercise in the 2014 Federal Capital budget hence the applicants were made to bear the responsibility of funding the project without approval of the Board contrary to section 22(5) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000, the charge said.
The document alleged that “One of the accused Mahmood Ahmadu(who is at large) in connivance with Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd, lavished the total of N423.8 million, part of the N676.675 million gotten from the applicants on the following: the sum N202. 5 million in purchase of a property in a choice area of the Federal Capital territory, N120.1 million used in upgrading a property in Abuja, while the total of N101.2 million was converted to United states dollars for personal use.”
The case, filed at a Federal High Court in Abuja, is yet to be assigned as at the close of work on Tuesday, but those familiar with the matter said Moro and the other accused persons might be arraigned before the end of the week.
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