THE Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has recommended administrative action against 13 public officials over their roles in the scandal involving the fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).
The ICPC, which was directed by President Bola Tinubu to probe into the PFIPC, in its interim report submitted to the President on 6 August, said the purported director general of PFIPC, Adeniyi Adeyemi, was never appointed by the federal government and that the council was not established by any law, executive order or other valid government instrument.
In the recommendation, contained in its investigation report, ICPC called for the prosecution of Adeyemi for forgery, impersonation, making false statements to public officers and criminal misrepresentation.
The report recommended administrative action against the Director of the Organisation Design and Development Department, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mimi Abu; Special Adviser on Administration to the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Rosemary Achem; an Assistant Director in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Patricia Akhigbe, as well as Schedule Officer, Office Allocation, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Aminu Abdullahi.
Others include Assistant Director, IPSAS, National Chart of Accounts, Consolidated Account Department, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Bello Abdullahi; Director, Inspectorate Department, OAGF, Sanni Olubunmi; Director, Consolidated Accounts Department, OAGF, Joshua Kadiri Luka; Deputy Director, Risk and Review, Inspectorate Department, OAGF, Muazu Balami; Assistant Director, Inspectorate Department, OAGF, Omameh Florence; Akinlose Moses of the Inspectorate Department, OAGF; Chief Accountant, OAGF, Ogaba Harry; Principal Executive Officer I, OAGF, Esther Orji Okoli; and Manager, Compliance and Regulation Department, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Ogunbade Habeebat Ajibola.
The Commission also recommended that the affected institutions implement relevant reforms identified in the report.
In addition, ICPC recommended further investigation into the roles played by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance in the process through which legitimacy was accorded to the PEAC/PFIPC, as well as inviting and interviewing officials and individuals connected to the newly uncovered fake MDAs, forged legislative Acts and Unity Bank accounts.
Those listed for further questioning include the managing director, chief compliance officer and relationship or account officer responsible for the Unity Bank accounts linked to the organisation.
The Commission further recommended the invitation of OAGF officials, Adekunle Ajayi and Lovina Akabueze, and an analysis of all bank accounts linked to Adeyemi, as well as other sources of funds he claimed to have obtained as loans.
It equally recommended stronger mechanisms for authenticating official documents and ensuring that only legally established government entities are granted access to public resources, government facilities, financial systems and other administrative privileges.
In the course of the investigation, ICPC also uncovered another suspected fake agency, the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, which operated within the Office of the SGF.
President Bola Tinubu ordered the arrest of its alleged promoter, George Buchi Nwabueze, and suspension of three permanent secretaries linked the agency
