Reps accuse Okonjo-Iweala of flaunting forged documents

The House of Representatives
Committee on Public Accounts on
Thursday accused the Minister of
Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, of
"brandishing fake and forged
documents" in her defence of the
alleged missing N24bn from Police
Pension Fund.
The committee had resumed sitting on
the investigation on Thursday with the
Director-General of Pension Transitional
Arrangement Department, Mrs. Nellie
Mayshak, and representatives of the
Office of the Accountant-General of the
Federation in attendance.
Members of the committee at the
session argued that the minister was
misleading Nigerians with her claim that
the money had been not missing but
paid into bank accounts.
According to the Chairman of the
committee, Mr. Solomon Olamilekan,
there are no verifiable documents
before the committee to track the
money to any bank accounts.
Olamilekan noted that instead of
honouring the committee's invitation to
address the issue, the minister opted to
issue a press statement on an ongoing
investigation.
He said, "We invited you people to
appear before this committee on this
serious transactions involving tax payers'
money running into billions of naira and
the new Director-General of Pension
Transitional Arrangement Department
was honest enough to say that she just
took over and that there was no
document to back up the disbursement
of the N24bn.
"We further requested more
documentation in order to get to the
root of the matter only for the minister
to come up with a press statement that
the money was not missing.
"We challenge her to a public debate
where all the media houses will be
present and will be on live on all
television stations so that Nigerians will
know whether or not the N24bn was
not missing."
The committee said the minister should
supply evidence of the movement of the
money in the commercial banks
involved between 2009 and 2012 in
order to convince Nigerians that the
money was not missing.
Olamilekan added, "All these documents
being brandished around in defence of
the missing N24bn are fraudulent,
forged and fake, which cannot stand the
test of the time.
"They have nothing to do with the
missing money. Come to think of it, the
minister claimed that the money was
kept in an account. In which bank and
how much was the interest since it was
kept in the bank?
"She also claimed that the money had
been paid into the treasury; where is
the official receipt issued to that
effect?"
The committee directed that the
documents should be produced at its
next adjourned date of March 26.
The N24bn came to the fore after a
Director in the AGF's office, Mr. Salau
Suberu, had informed the committee
that the money was mopped up from
the PPF in December 2012 and diverted
to capital projects by the minister.