PORT HARCOURT- Former commissioners in the administration of immediate past Governor  Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, have written President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that the former governor was innocent of allegations of N70 billion fraud levelled against him by a Rivers State pressure group, The Integrity Group, TIG.

In an open letter to the President dated August 3, the TIG had accused Amaechi and other functionaries of his administration of ‘’corruption, criminal breach of trust, unlawful enrichment and conversion of over N70 billion state resources’’ and provided evidence to back up its allegations.

The TIG had also accused Amaechi of fraudulent sale of Rivers State power assets and conversion of proceeds amounting to N60.48 billion; unlawful payment to and criminal conversion of N4.63 billion by CLINORIV Specialist Hospital; and unlawful enrichment of Messrs Collect Solutions (Nig) Limited with public funds to the tune of N1.56 billion.

Dismissing the allegations as false, Mr George Feyii (former Secretary to the Rivers State Government) and Dr Chamberlain Peterside (former Commissioner of Finance), in  the letter, said that the facts were twisted and misrepresented to malign Amaechi’s integrity.

The former SSG and Finance Commissioner attached copies of Executive Council extracts, MoUs and the agreement for the resolution of the failed 1000-bed (Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte) mega Specialist Hospital Contract, to exonerate Amaechi.

On the sale of Rivers State power assets, Feyii and Peterside, said that the exercise was not fraudulent and the proceed was captured as one of the sources of revenue to fund the 2014 budget.

According to them, the State Executive Council, after extensive deliberations on August 15 and 16 2012, decided to sell 70 per cent of its equity in the power assets of the state because the Federal Government had commenced the privatisation process to unbundle the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN; the PHCN was not paying the state for electricity contributed to the national grid; the state was buying gas to fuel the plants and was indebted to SPDC and NAOC to the tune of N7 billion while spending over N1bn yearly to maintain the plants.

“The power assets were priced and sold at  a premium at $800,000 per megawatt, which is higher than the rate of $358,000 per megawatt used by the Federal Government in disposing its power assets at Afam. Whereas Rivers State earned $302 million for 70 per cent of its power assets of 541 megawatts, the Federal Government received $260 million of the 726 megawatts plant situated adjacent to the Rivers State facility.”