On Tuesday June 24, 2014 the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC) dragged Mr. Abiodun Osagie, his wife Mrs. Regina
Osagie and Mr. Oladimeji Bello all of
the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OHSF) to FCT Abuja High
Court No. 6 for allegedly diverting
pension funds into private accounts using various banks and fake identities in
violation of the provisions of the ICPC Act 2000.
Mr. Abiodun Osagie is currently with the Police Service
Commission while the wife is now with the Ministry Petroleum Resources, Mr.
Oladimeji Bello is still with the OHSF and was part of the Pensions Management
Committee set up after the dissolution of the Maina-led Pensions Reform Task
Team (PRTT) and allegedly abused his office by re-inserting the ghost names
into the pension list.
Also listed for arraignment is Mr. Abiodun Osagie's
sister-in-law, Mrs. Philomena Ayodele, a 42-year-old housewife and a pure-water
seller, who has been enjoying pension for six years without having served for
one day in the Federal Civil Service.
Mrs. Ayodele was
arrested on19 July 2013 at Keystone Bank, Mararaba Branch while trying to
withdraw her monthly 'pension'.
In her statement she
was alleged to have confessed that it was Mr. Abiodun Osagie who approached her
and requested for her bank account details in order to enable them pay monthly
pensions into her account.
She alleged that she
had been collecting the pension money from her account and they usually shared
the proceeds.
The arraignment of the suspects marks the end of a
nine-month undercover investigation by ICPC of corrupt practices in the
Pensions Department of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.
In the course of the investigation, the ICPC team visited
the residence of Mr. Osagie and a list containing several names and account
numbers in banks was retrieved.
These accounts were
opened with fictitious names and had as beneficiaries Mr. Osagie's wife Mrs.
Regina Osagie, his sister-in-law Mrs. Ayodele and other relatives.
The ICPC detectives also discovered that all these accounts
had pensions funds credited into them on a monthly basis since 2008 until their
arrests in 2013.
The payments were
done in such a way as not to attract attention but the Special squad set up in the
Financial Investigations Unit under the direct supervision of ICPC Chairman,
was able to piece the puzzle into a meaningful pattern that exposed the
perpetrators through deductive investigations.
Before pensions management was moved to the Pensions Transitions
Administration Department (PETAD), a
review of the pension processes in the Office of the Head of Service of the
Federation ordered by ICPC had started yielding very positive results following
the full support of the immediate past and current Heads of Service.
The court has listed the case for arraignment for November
6 2014
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