Suspended SEC DG, Gwarzo, allegedly paid N1.7bn to workers without approval

Facts have emerged on how the suspended Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mounir Gwarzo, paid N1.7bn as severance package to 44 members of staff of the commission without approval from the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.

The payment of the amount is one of the contraventions of financial regulations by the embattled SEC DG, which led to the recommendation of his dismissal.

According to the report of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry, the payment of the N1.7bn to the 44 members of staff of the commission as severance package was never provided for in the commission’s budget for 2015.

A top government official privy to the content of the report of the administrative panel told PUNCH correspondent, “In 2015, he single-handedly without a budgetary provision paid N1.7bn to a set of staff under a golden handshake. By law, the DG of SEC is required to seek the approval of the Minister of Finance, even if there is a board in place”.

When contacted by PUNCH correspondent, Gwarzo said in a text message that the claim that he paid the sum of N1.7bn severance package to staff members without approval was untrue.

PUNCH, February 2, 2018

 

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