Pension fraud: Task force seizes cash, properties worth N159bn

The Pension Reform Task Force Team has disclosed that it has so far confiscated cash and properties worth N159bn from top officials involved in the administration of the pension scheme in the civil service and Police Pension Office.
The team comprises operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and State Security Service.
The seizure of the cash and assets was disclosed by the Information and Media Officer of the team, Mr. Hassan Salihu, in a statement on Monday.
He said, “Following several complaints over pension difficulties, the former Head of Service of the Federation, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, inaugurated the Abdulrasheed Maina-led Pension Reform Task Force Team to oversee the cleansing of the system.
“It is estimated that the PRT has recovered over N159bn in property and cash from suspects.”
According to him, the PRT has tendered a charge sheet document before the Senate Committee on Pensions in which 32 individual and corporate suspects were charged with over 140-count charge by the EFCC for allegedly siphoning billions of naira from the pension fund.
He said another charge sheet document was also tendered before the committee as exhibit on how the Nigerian Union of Pensioners allegedly siphoned over N2bn from the pension fund.
According to the statement, another N18bn was allegedly stolen by the Director of the Police Pension Office between 2008 and June 2011, using over 13,874 cheque leaflets.
The statement said the suspects drew as many as 30 cheques daily and withdrew over N250m weekly.
The trial of the suspects, Salihu said, commenced on Monday at the Abuja High Court before Justice Bello Oniyangi.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Joint Committee on Management of Pension Funds, Senator Aloysious Etok, has said that the final public hearing on pension matters by the upper legislative chamber will end today (Tuesday).
“The final hearing on pensions will end on Tuesday, and the committee will make public its findings from its investigations and come up with recommendations that will give way forward on the issues,” he said.
Etok, however, said that to alleviate the problems of pensioners and ensure that they earned their monthly stipends while the investigation was going on; the Senate had asked the HOS to pay the pensioners, using the list of retirees available to it until all issues pertaining to the pension payment were settled.