More Mess For Senate As Another Senator Allegedly Operates 20 Accounts
Recently every news seem to revolve around members of The Senate. Days after the certificate saga of Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West at the National Assembly, a senator from Delta state has become a subject of massive probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over fraudulent acts.
The senator was accused of not executing N4 billion contracts by the government of Delta state. The Nation reports that the lawmaker operates 20 accounts in six banks with different signatories. The Senator allegedly bought a 12-storey building in Apapa, Lagos, belonging to the Delta state government for N805 million using a company as a front. It was also reported that the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) record indicated that the senator “did not declare all the companies and bank accounts he has despite being operational prior to the time he made the declaration.”
According to a news site Naij.com, the senator’s investigation followed a petition from Delta state. Delta state was said to have alleged that the senator’s firm which was awarded a N1,580,000,000 contract by the Direct Labour Agency to supply construction equipment did not fulfill its obligations by following specification but instead supplied used equipment, contrary to the Bill of Quantity which specified new ones.
The Nation also reported that the Senator’s firm was alleged to have secured over N2 billion contracts from nine local government areas in Delta worth over N2billion without necessary registration. After securing a N474,936,000 contract from the Waste Management Board to supply bulldozers, payloaders and tipper lorries, the senator’s firm was discovered by the EFCC to have delivered used items contrary to the contract specifications. A source with the EFCC said: “We have traced five companies to the senator. We were able to detect that in the course of contract execution, his company imported and supplied used equipment, contrary to the specifications in the bill of quantity.
“Our team has discovered that the senator’s personal and companies’ bank accounts were linked to a bank verification number (BVN) which has more than 20 accounts domiciled in six banks. “But his relative is the sole signatory to the accounts. “They also located one foreign account identified with the senator in HSBC Bank in Marbile Arch London, United Kingdom.”
