Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secrets Reporters
The governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu led government seems to have been enmeshed in corruption as investigations by this online media have continued to unearth illicit transactions masterminded by different ministries and agencies of the State government.
It is no longer news that in the past few months, SecretsReporters has been exposing series of illicit transactions done under governor Sanwo-Olu’s nose through his trusted servants.
In another major discovery, we gathered that the sum of N701,175,564.85 left the confers of the State treasury through four transactions by different agencies as payments for contracts awarded by these agencies.
We gathered that of all the four transactions made by the Ministry Of Transportation, Ministry Of Women Affairs And Poverty, Lagos State Infrastructure Asset Management Agency, Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools in Lagos State, none of the recipients was qualified for the contracts they were paid for.
The federal and state’s procurement laws have it that a company must have three years tax history before it can bid for a government contract. However, it was discovered that none of the companies that got the contracts in consideration had three years tax history. Remarkably, one of them got a contract even before it was registered.
According to the Lagos State open procurement portal, in April 2021, the Ministry of Transportation awarded a contract worth N522,399,321.20 to Hevelius Limited for “Provision of Intelligent Traffic Signal Light at 10 Locations”.
Findings revealed that Hevelius Limited was registered on 17 Aug 2020, denoting that it did not have up to three years tax clearance as stated by the Lagos State Government.
In a similar act in April 2021, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty experienced an outflow of N27,000,000.00 in favour of Cache World Global Resources as contract payment for the “Procurement of Starter Pack To (6) Different Location”.
Remarkably, findings revealed that Cache World Global Resources was registered on 23 February 2022, implying that it got the multi-million naira contract before it was floated. More so, we gathered that the awardee is also a beneficiary of Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.
Further findings revealed that in April 2021, the sum of N5,544,850.00 left the coffers of the Lagos State Infrastructure Asset Management Agency in favour of Crown & Smith Limited as contract payment for “Operation and Maintenance of Unity Junior High School and Bolade Junior Grammar School”.
Records on the Corporate Affairs Commission have it that Crown & Smith Limited was registered on 04 March 2020, which implies that the company did not have up to three years tax clearance as stated by the Lagos State Government.
Lastly, we gathered that in April 2021, the Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools in Lagos State awarded a contract worth N146,231,393.65 to Takullah Mandate Ventures for the “Construction of a Block of 12 Classrooms, At Senior Grammar School, Ijaiye Ojokoro Ifako-Ijaiye (Education District 1)”.
Findings revealed that Takullah Mandate Ventures was registered on 26 November 2020, meaning that it got the contract barely five months after it was floated, undermining the three years tax clearance as stated by the Lagos State Government.
