•Establishes criminal activities against detained Adeyemi
•Exonerates Gbajabiamila, NASS committee responsible for budget scrutiny
•To present final findings to House on resumption from two-month annual recess
The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has established preliminary evidence of financial and criminal activities allegedly linked to its detained Director-General, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, while uncovering a network of additional organisations and bank accounts.
Chairman of the committee, Honourable Yusuf Gagdi, disclosed this while presenting the panel’s preliminary findings on the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the inclusion of the purported organisation in the Federal Budget Framework to Parliamentary Correspondents in Abuja.
Gagdi said the committee’s findings indicated that the PFIPC was never lawfully established, as it found no Act of the National Assembly, gazetted enactment, Presidential Executive Order or other lawful instrument creating the council.
While noting that the documentary materials used to project its existence and authority contain substantial evidence of fabrication, forgery, mutilation, impersonation and unauthorised representation of institutions and public officers of the Federal Government, the committee urged relevant government agencies to ensure that “no appropriation, administrative code, warrant, cash backing, financial release or governmental facility should be processed in favour of the purported organisation.”
It also asked all relevant financial institutions and investigative agencies to preserve all account records, transaction histories, mandates and beneficial ownership information relating to the persons and entities under investigation.
The committee, therefore, considered the allegations sufficiently serious to require the prompt conclusion of criminal and financial investigations. Where sufficient admissible evidence is established, the appropriate agencies should institute criminal proceedings before courts of competent jurisdiction and pursue lawful measures for the tracing, preservation, freezing and recovery of proceeds or assets derived from established unlawful conduct,” it added.
The committee also stated that it uncovered 12 additional fake agencies.
According to the panel, preliminary financial and investigative evidence linked Prince Adeyemi to a network of approximately 58 bank accounts and more than 30 accounts apparently operated in the names of about nine agencies, companies, foundations or related entities.
The committee chairman alleged that information received from financial and investigative institutions indicated that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and other identifying details associated with Prince Adeyemi were linked to a substantial network of personal, corporate, organisational and foundation accounts.
The 12 agencies are Confederation of United Nations Youths, FCT Investment Promotion Agency and Public-Private Partnership; FCT Investment Promotion Council and Public-Private Partnership; Foreign Investment Promotion Agency; United Nations Youth Global Agency; United Nations Youth Global Foundation; World United Nations Youth Global Foundation; World Entrepreneurship University Limited; World Enterprise University Limited; FCT Investment Promotion Act; FCT Promotion Agency and Olubadan of Ibadan Foundation.
Stating that the committee has not concluded that every identified account, entity or transaction was unlawful, the lawmaker explained that the committee is reconciling registration records, account mandates, beneficial ownership information, signatories and transaction histories to determine the true nature and control of the identified entities and accounts.
Gagdi said the similarities in the nomenclature, objectives, management structures, signatories and banking relationships of the entities raised concerns over a possible pattern of establishing or deploying organisations to create artificial credibility, solicit funds, obtain official recognition or induce members of the public to part with money.
Of particular concern to the committee is an alleged N400 million transaction involving a company, which alleged that Prince Adeyemi induced it to make payments in four instalments after representing that it would secure a contract for the renovation and furnishing of a purported official residence allocated to him in his claimed capacity as PFIPC’s director-general.
The committee said it was tracing the destinations of the funds, identifying account holders and beneficial owners and determining whether any public officer or other individual participated in, facilitated or benefited from the alleged transaction.
Gagdi said that if established through competent investigative and judicial processes, the allegations could disclose offences, including fraudulent misrepresentation, obtaining money by false pretence, impersonation, conspiracy, forgery and offences relating to the concealment of proceeds of crime.
The committee also found evidence of alleged fabrication of official documents, including a purported presidential appointment letter for Prince Adeyemi, a purported Executive Order and a document presented as an Act of the National Assembly establishing the organisation.
Evidence from the State House, according to Gagdi, established that the purported appointment letter was neither issued nor signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, while the letterhead and reference number were also inconsistent with official State House correspondence.
The Committee consequently exonerated Gbajabiamila from allegations of authorising, establishing or participating in the activities of the purported Council(s), commending him for what it described as timely interventions after alerts concerning the organisation were brought to his attention.
“The documentary evidence presently before the committee does not establish that the Chief of Staff authorised, approved, established or participated in the activities of the purported organisation,” Gagdi said.
Rather, he explained that evidence showed that Gbajabiamila had communicated with relevant security and investigative agencies, including: Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Office of the National Security Adviser (oNSA), Department of State Services (DSS) as well as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), following alerts concerning the activities of the purported organisation.
The committee also exonerated the National Assembly Committees responsible for budget scrutiny from culpability, with its findings indicating that the focus of the investigation should instead be on how an unestablished entity was able to secure apparent recognition and budgetary treatment within the Federal Government’s administrative machinery.
Weak institutions
Gagdi said the investigation exposed critical institutional weaknesses in the verification of the legal existence of government agencies, creation of administrative and budget codes, authentication of official correspondence, allocation of government accommodation and processing of official-looking vehicle number plates.
He argued that the purported council was able to reinforce its claim to governmental legitimacy by occupying office accommodation within the Federal Secretariat Complex, operating a website that portrayed it as a federal institution and allegedly using the names, offices and photographs of President Bola Tinubu and other senior government officials without their authorisation.
The committee further found that 39 persons were represented as employees of the purported organisation and is investigating their recruitment, appointment letters, identity cards, remuneration and allegations that some persons were required to make payments as a condition for employment.
It commended the NPF, DSS, EFCC, ICPC and ONSA for their contributions to tracing the fabricated documents, associated entities, financial accounts and transactions, urging the agencies to conclude their investigations and prosecute anyone against whom sufficient admissible evidence is established.
Recommendations
Among the Ad hoc Committee’s preliminary recommendations is that all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should refrain from recognising, transacting with or extending government privileges to the PFIPC or any related manifestation whose legal status has not been independently verified.
It also recommended that no appropriation, administrative code, warrant, cash backing, financial release or government facility should be processed in favour of the purported organisation, while all relevant financial, documentary and electronic evidence should be preserved.
The lawmakers further recommended enhanced authentication procedures for new institutions, administrative and budget codes, as well as correspondence purportedly emanating from the Presidency and other high offices of government.
The committee proposed the establishment or strengthening of a secure and centralised digital verification platform through which the lawful existence, establishing instrument and status of every Federal Government institution could be independently authenticated.
It recommended that the alleged N400 million transaction be subjected to a separate and comprehensive investigation and that lawful measures be taken to trace, preserve, freeze and recover proceeds of any established unlawful activity, subject to judicial authorisation where required.
Gagdi said the committee would continue to investigate the ownership and control of the identified accounts, the alleged N400 million transaction, the purported official residence, special number plates, unauthorised occupation of government accommodation and the roles of public officers and private individuals connected with the matter.