Revelations at the on-going trial of alleged looters of pension funds have shown how Aliyu Bello, a staff in the office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OHCSF) allegedly colluded with six ghost pensioners to siphon N471.3 million in pension monies.
The fraud came into the open in 2010 during the verification/biometric enrollment of the OHCSF pensioners.
The pension department of the Head of Service is the coordinating unit of all retirees in the federal civil service.
Bello, who allegedly recruited the ghost pensioners who do not have employment records in any government agency, is a former special assistant to Mamman Abdullahi, director of administration in the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
The names of the ghost pensioners were given as Haruna Maigida who was said to have been fraudulently paid N25,236,802.55, Abdulahi Omeza, paid N191,794,312.51, Kabiru Labbo got N12,707,801.86 and Sani Salihu collected N312,109,048.39.
Others are Grace Francis who allegedly collected N28,183,363.52 and Luke Eloanyi who some bank accounts traced to Aliyu Ahmed, indicated was paid N86,298,381.66.
Details of the alleged fraud, the names and the figures, together with the account numbers, are contained in the proof of evidence submitted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the Federal High Court, Abuja.
According to the court documents seen by our reporter, Maigida who is also known as Danjuma Bako Wasa, used both names to operate accounts in Unity Bank account number 258116492311010, Zenith Bank account number 4019308212 and Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank) account number 1008506805.
The court documents noted that “From the analysis of the bank documents, it was discovered that Haruna Maigida was one and the same person that had been operating the three accounts where he was fraudulently paid the sum of N17,452,910.87, another N7, 783,891.68 and N17,293,888.44 respectively from OHCSF for pension arrears and gratuity totaling N42,530,690.99”.
The EFCC in the court document stated that Maigida who was arrested in Sokoto “confessed that Aliyu Bello was the one who introduced him to the fraud and he was paid the total sum of N25, 236,802.55 of which he was said to have benefitted only five percent and gave the remaining money to Aliyu Bello”.
Regarding Abdullahi Omeiza, a school teacher in Sokoto state, the court document stated that he was fraudulently paid N23, 415,131.42 for pension arrears and gratuity, through his UBA account 02250250002673 from OHCSF.
“He was also discovered to have used additional 12 accounts, using different fictitious names to collect additional fraudulent payments from OHCSF for pension arrears and gratuity”.
Analysis of banks’ responses to EFCC enquiries show that “the total sum of N191, 794,312.51 was fraudulently paid to him.
“From Abdullahi Omeiza’s account 02250250002673 with UBA, the sum of N500, 000 and N1, 600,000 were discovered to have been paid to Aliyu Bello’s personal account 01273942101152 with UBA on 25 March 2008 and 18 February 2009 respectively”.
“Cash deposit of N500,000 was also traced to have been deposited into another account 6223500219 of Aliyu Bello, with Zenith Bank plc by Abdullahi Omeiza”.
The anti-graft commission also stated that Kabiru Labbo who is also a ghost pensioner was paid N9, 757,801.86 via UBA account 02250020008924 and another N2.95 million into his Fidelity Bank account for fictititious pension arrears and gratuities.
The suspect, who like others was arrested in Sokoto, was said to have confessed to have been recruited by Aliyu Bello.
“It was further discovered that these fraudulent payments from the pension account remitted to Aliyu Bello’s companies by those ghost pensioners, were deposited into Fafama Estate Developers’ account 6213502032 and Fafama Oil and Gas account 6213502576 both with Zenith Bank. The deposits, according to the commission were “sometimes in fictitious corporate names and individuals’.
Sani Salihu, a businessman and contractor who has never worked in any government agency, according to the EFCC, is another associate of Aliyu Bello. He was said to have been paid N9,380,552.91 via Zenith bank account 4016107132.
Salihu who is also known as Mohammed Sani, operated Unity Bank account 314115964011010 into which N12,508,495.48 was paid as pension and gratuity from OHCSF.
“Further investigation revealed that N5 million out of the money was remitted to Fafama Estate Developers account with Zenith Bank”.
Findings on both Fafama Estate Developers and Fafama Oil and Gas, the two companies allegedly owned by Aliyu Bello, were said to show that N46.820 million was transferred from Fafama Estate Developers to Sani Salihu, through his company known as AMS Marketing & Sons.
“Further analysis of Fafama Estate Developers bank statement revealed that N10 million, N43.3 million and N5.1 million were transferred into it from Salimpa Ventures account 2086303730612 in Afribank (now Mainstreet), Omaumali Ventures acount 6213502098 with Zenith Bank and Sa’azab Global Nigeria Ltd account 1731030000749 with Union Bank respectively”.
A breakdown of the N23.183 million alleged to have been fraudulently paid to Grace Francis shows N12.180million came from Oceanic Bank (now Ecobank) account 670001012991, N6.445 million from Diamond Bank account 0611050059330 and N4.557 million from Unity Bank.
Findings on Luke Eloanyi, another alleged ghost pensioner, indicated that he was fraudulently paid N86.3 million, along with some money traced to accounts allegedly belonging to Aliyu Bello.
The first tranche was N7.025 million via Bank PHB (now Keystone) account 1490492492 and another N13.544 million via Zenith Bank account 4213502204. He was also alleged to have handed over the money to Aliyu Bello.
Based on these revelations, the EFCC search on Aliyu Bello’s acounts in Zenith 6223500219, Mainstreet 2086303543518, Unity 2271704290110, UBA 01273942101152, and Keystone 1490430276 allegedly show that “he was at various times, fraudulently paid N65.729 million for fictitious collective allowances from OHCSF which he could not properly account for”.
By: BADEJO ADEMUYIWA
