ALLEGED e-PASSPORT FRAUD: Senate summons Dambazau, AGF, others

Senate has summoned top officials of President Muhammadu Buhari administration and four private companies to appear before it to explain an alleged multi-billion Naira fraud in the e-passport scheme.

Top officials of government invited to make clarifications are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami; Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris; Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.).

The four private companies are Contec Nigeria Limited, Greater Washington Nigeria Limited, Newwork Solution and Investment Limited and Iris Smart Technologies.

This companies which have been engaged by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in a public private partnership arrangement over the years, were contracted for e-passport production, expatriate residence permit and alien card as well as other immigration services.

The companies have contractual agreements to perform some revenue generating services on behalf of the NIS.

All the invitees are to appear before the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Alleged Misuse, Under Remittance and Other Fraudulent Activities in the Collection, Remittance and Expenditure of Internally Generated Revenue by Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, disclosed this in a statement released by his media adviser, Kayode Odunaro. He said the invitees are to appear before the committee on April 6, 2017.

Read also: THE FACTS THAT NAILED MAGU: AGF gets report

According to the statement, companies are allegedly “withholding a hefty percentage of revenue that would have accrued to the Federal Government.”

The invitation to the government officials and the companies came as a result of a presentation made before the committee by the Comptroller General of the NIS, Mr. Mohammed Babandede, in regards to revenue profile of NIS and how various revenues generated, running into billions of naira and dollars, “were shared by the companies, the NIS and the Federal Government.”

This is coming even as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal, has also been summoned over alleged grass cutting contract fraud.

The Senate has also called for the sack of Comptroller General of Customs Hameed Ali, following his failure to appear before the Senate in uniform to explain what the Senate sees as anti-people policy of the service.

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