By EMMA UJAH, Abuja Bureau Chief
THE controversy over the multi-billion naira pension scam, weekend, took a new dimension as the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, OAuGF, queried the Pension Task Force Team Chairman, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina and directed him to refund N127, 085, 880 to the treasury.

The directive to refund the said amount followed what the OAuGF said were irregular payments to members of the team who participated in the Diaspora Biometric capturing exercise.

POLICE PENSION SCAM: R-l: Essai Dangabar and Mrs Veronica Ulonma Onyegbula in the Court. INSET: Other suspects. Atiku Abubakar Kigo, Ahmed Inuwa Wada, John Yakubu Yusufu and Sani Habila Zira.

In a memo with reference number OAuGF/LISD/POL.PEN/VOL.1/15 and dated March 9, 2012, the OAuGF said it discovered that several millions of naira was paid to the officers as estacode and other allowances for the purpose of travelling abroad for the exercise but that those officers did not travel.

The memo, signed by the Director, Legislature, Judiciary and Security Agencies, Mrs. F.N Anyanwu, said: “58 of the 70 officers who had been paid estacode allowances and other related allowances totaling N127, 085, 880.00 for official trips to Ghana, South Africa, United States of America and the United Kingdom did not produce their travel documents such as passports and visas to confirm that they embarked on the assignment for which they were paid.”

The Office said further: “On enquiry, one of the officers, Mr. Adeyemi, confirmed his failure to embark on the official assignment and was yet to refund a total sum of N2, 895, 600 paid to him for the trip”.

No payment   vouchers raised

The OAuGF also said there were no payment vouchers raised for the payments, “contrary to Financial Regulations 601 which states that ‘all payment entries in the cashbook shall be vouched for on one of the prescribed treasury forms and under no circumstances shall a cheque be raised or cash be paid for services which a voucher has not been raised.”

It said that the Police Pension Office failed to produce through the Task Team the relevant documents like payment vouchers, cashbooks, passports, visas or biometric reports relating to New York, Atlanta,  and the UK, adding: “This practice contravened the principles of transparency, probity and accountability and, therefore, the total sum of N127, 085, 880 paid to the listed officers be returned to the federal government coffers.”

The OAuGF also directed Mr. Maina to recover another N3.788 million paid to five persons who were not assigned for the Police Biometric exercise. The list of the affected persons included: Ateb Godwin, Anatasia Daniel, Ibrahim Abdulkarim, Faith Ubong and Okonyi, E. D.

It was observed in the memo that there were no documented retirees in the Diaspora recorded in the Police Pension Office to warrant the trip and that in some cases, payments were made three weeks before memos were raised and approvals granted.

The OAuGF memo had an attachment of the report of the team that visited Ghana which admitted that it did not capture any Nigerian police retiree as there were no such persons resident in Ghana .

“It was established that there was no retired (Nigerian) police officer in Ghana” the report said. It was signed by four members of the team: Abraham S. O.; Adeyemo, J.A; Luke I and Mrs Gimba Rakiyat.

Mr. Maina whose team has recovered an estimated N180 billion from the Police Pension and the Head of Service Pension Officers and for which several retired and serving servants have been dragged before the courts, has consistently said that corruption has been fighting him since he exposed the monumental corruption in the pension system.

He was, however, not available to react to the AGF query and the directive to return N127 million to the treasury as his phone was switched off.