Senate Alleges N7.5bn Secret Withdrawal, Summons Buhari's appointees
- The finance minister, Zainab Ahmed, and the accountant-general of the federation, Ahmed Idris, have questions to answer at the floor of the Senate
- The Senate has summoned the duo to explain the alleged secret withdrawal from the automotive design and development council levy account
- According to the red chamber, the sum of N7.5 billion was withdrawn from the CBN in a space of six years
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The minister of finance, budget, and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, and Accountant-General of Nigeria, Ahmed Idris, have been summoned by the Senate public accounts committee over the alleged secret withdrawal of N7.5 billion.
The chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, said that fund meant for the national automotive design and development council levy account was withdrawn from the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) in two tranches between 2000 and 2006, Punch reports.
Source: Twitter
New Telegraph reports that when questioned about the transaction, Jelani Aliyu, the head of the agency, said he was not consulted before it was done.
Urhoghide in his motion on Wednesday, April 14, queried Idris thus:
“The transaction was carried out by the Presidency in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Accountant-General of the Federation without the involvement of NAC, the account owner."
In its summon to the minister and the AG, the Senate's committee claimed that the interest from the said loan has not been refunded. It added that at the moment there are no documents to show the beneficiaries, agreement documents, moratorium, duration of the loan, interest rates, and the method of payback.
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Meanwhile, the Sokoto zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned a former senator, Umaru Tafida Argungu, before Justice Mohammed Mohammed of the state high court on one count charge of criminal misappropriation of public funds.
Legit.ng reported that the EFCC in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Monday, March 1, said that the ex-senator misappropriated the sum of N419,744,612.
Source: Legit.ng
