EFCC: President is in our custody
Money, running into millions of naira, was alleged
to have disappeared under the watch of the former president of Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Cooperative Multipurpose Society Limited, CMS,
Lagos, Mr. Joseph Adeleke Ojeyemi.
The money, which belonged to the Society, was
alleged to have been siphoned by Ojeyemi during his two terms as President of
the Society. This period covered January 1, 2011 to December 2015. He handed
over the reins of leadership on November 4, 2015.
The matter, which has been dragged to the Lagos
State office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), witnessed
the arrest of Ojeyemi.
It was gathered that the embezzlement wouldn’t have
come to light, if not that some staff, who described themselves as concerned
members of the Society, wrote anonymous petition and distributed it to all and
sundry until it got to the top hierarchy of the Society, leading to internal
and external auditors scrutinizing the Society’s accounts.
The petition stated in part: “As President of the
Society, Ojeyemi engaged in series of activities that were tantamount to share
embezzlement of the Society’s fund and investment.”
The petition alleged diversion of funds and Society’s
assets by Ojeyemi. He was also alleged to have collected N90 million loans from
the Society.
On December 20, the Society had its Annual General Meeting,
which held at Regency Hall, Ikeja. The members looked downcast as it was
highlighted that the Society recorded a loss of N720m in 2015.
The new President, Mr. Akin, during his speech,
presented the loss. Our correspondent gathered at the AGM, that the Society owed
members over N800m.
Some of the members at the AGM alleged that the new
President had been shielding Ojeyemi because they are close friends.
They also alleged that Ojeyemi was instrumental to
the emergence of the new President, thus his lackadaisical attitude to the idea
of prosecuting Ojeyemi.
Fuming, a member said: “Ojeyemi has crippled the
Society so much that there are no funds to pay members. We heard that some
staff may be sacked due to lack of funds, can you imagine? He should refund our
money!”
According to the external auditors, Abdullahi Bin
Suleiman and Co, Chartered Accounts, (ABS), total amounts estimated to have
been embezzled under Ojeyemi’s watch is N508, 909, 388.80.
The ABS, which carried out a forensic Audit of the
Society, stated in its report: “These figures may change as more revelations
and investigations are made. We have seen funds transferred between the Society
and some related companies, individuals receiving funds and the Society making
payments to organisations and inflated prices of goods and services and made
payments to companies with limited or no trading history and very large cash
withdrawals from the Society’s bank account by Mr. Ojeyemi and some other
individuals.”
The report also stated that there are several
investments and assets of the Society worth, but which were not handed over by
the immediate past President, Ojeyemi.
ABS argued that further specific detailed work was
needed to support the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies in investigating
these matters, even, where required, across international jurisdiction.
The reports added: “In this regard, we encourage the
Society to continue to support and sustain the oversight and thus to support
ongoing investigations in order to ensure convictions and, if possible,
reparations or recoveries. The absence of effective internal audit and control
mechanisms in the Society had also facilitated the impunity that took place
during the years 2011-2015. For example, there were no complete monthly bank
reconciliations to expose errors or irregularities in the bank accounts.”
ABS after its forensic auditing, suggested that the
Society should petition the EFCC, to invite Ojeyemi and collaborators for
interrogation and prosecution, in order to recover all the funds, investments
and property that were allegedly diverted.
It was gathered that during ABS investigations,
Ojeyemi kicked against invitation of external auditors to audit the Society’s
account. He also argued that whenever he did, was in accordance with the
bye-laws of the Society.
When asked about his over N90m loan profile, he
responded that the loan profile was wrong. He noted that whatever was happening
to him presently was politically generated.
When Ojeyemi was grabbed by the EFCC on December 17,
there was wild jubilation among some members.
But some of those members are now grumbling that
since the arrest of Ojeyemi, there has been a silence of graveyard from EFCC.
They alleged that EFCC might be shielding Ojeyemi, with the idea of sweeping
the matter under the carpet.
One of them said: “Since his arrest, everything had
been quite. We don’t even know what is happening. We thought that by now, Ojeyemi
would be making a plea bargaining deal to return some of our money. We don’t
understand what is going on in the EFCC.”
The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the
case. He said that Ojeyemi had been arrested and was still in the EFCC custody.
He added: “Ojeyemi is currently in our custody. We’re
not shielding him. We’re on the matter. Hundreds of cases are brought to the
EFCC and the cases had to be checked, to know those the EFCC will accept or
reject. After accepting the case, it had to be assigned to a team. It should be
noted that the team also had other cases they are investigating. People expect
that immediately they report a matter to the EFCC, other cases would be dropped
to focus on theirs. It’s not like that! People want everything to be quick and
over with; but it takes time to do these things. We’ve arrested the prime suspect
and he’s in our custody. The Society had confidence in the EFCC, which was why
the matter was reported to the Commission. The Society should allow the
Commission to do its work. They shouldn’t make insinuations.”
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