SEC DG, Commissioners Indicted In N593 Million Allowances Scandal, Senate Directs Refund

The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commissioners were caught in the N594 million vehicle allowances scandal and the Senate has ordered affected officials to make refund to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The indictment was sequel to the failure of officials to defend the allegations raised in the 2018 Auditor General’s report.

The Commission failed to appear after series of letters of invitations sent to defend the allegations before the Senate Public Accounts Committee chaired by Senator Matthew Uhroghide.

Although the Commission made a written submission, it failed to appear.

The Senate was therefore left with no option but to sustain the position of the Auditor General of the Federation on the allegations and forwarded the report to the Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

The query reads: “In 2013, the Director -General, while serving as Executive Commissioner, was paid the sum of N39 million as monetized car allowances to run for four years, but two years, on his appointment as Director General, he was again paid the sum of N84 million as monetized car allowances.

“In 2015, the Commission procured four project vehicles to meet its need at the sum of N144 million, but instead of making use of the vehicles for purposes they were acquired, the Director General and Commissioners turned them to their sole uses, which contravened chapter 9 (1)&(11) of the Commission’s condition of service.

“Also, the sum of N469 million was further expended on the payment of the monetized motor vehicle insurance in 2015 and 2016.

“In the view of the foregoing, payment of N39 million in 2013 and N84 million in 2015, totaling N124 million to the Director-General were not proper and cannot be considered as proper charges against public funds.”

The Senate therefore recommended the position of the Auditor General for the Director-General to refund N124 million paid to him and recover the sum of N469 million expended on the payment of monetized motor vehicle allowances and motor insurance allowances from the beneficiaries and pay to the Consolidated Revenue Fund and forward the payment details to the Office of Auditor General.

The report of the Public Accounts Committee was upheld by the Senate, which indicted the Commission.
-Eagle Online