Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secrets Reporters
Impeccable information reaching Secrets Reporters reveals that the immediate past governor of Delta State, Mr Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan, the current state Accountant General, Mr Cyril Agbele, fmr. Commissioner for Finance, Mr Kenneth Okpara and fmr Commissioner for Works, Mr Solomon Funkekeme will be guests to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) any moment from now.
The invitation letter which is already being prepared according to our sources within the commission is due to a petition submitted by Comrade Prince Kpokpogri, who is Chairman of Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum. The petition which was obtained by our correspondents detailed how the sum of N40 billion loan was paid to companies by the Mr Cyril Agbele, who never bothered to advise against such, since the contractors never carred out any job that deserved payment.
According to the petition, the contractors who collected the money are:
(1) Niger Cat N3 Billion
(2) Setraco N4 Billion
(3) Peculiar N600 Million
(4) Planet Projects N2 Billion
(5) All infrastructure Limited N700 Million
(6) Arc Marie Limited N2.1 Billion
(7) Hi-Tech Construction Ltd N1 Billion
(8) Tratrix N1.5 Billion
(9) C.C.C N1 Billion
(10) Obakpor Engineering Ltd N2.2 Billion
(11) Levant N600 Million
(12) Vicomech Int. Limited N1 Billion
(13) Murphendriks Int. Limited N1 Billion
(14) U.L.O Construction N2 Billion
(15) Disimpro N1.4 Billion
“Flowing from the above stated names of companies, contractor and amounts, it is trite knowledge that the total amount of monies paid to this companies is N25.5 Billion Naira leaving the balance of N14.5 Billion Naira”, Kpokpogri noted.
He demanded that the EFCC investigate the following:
(1) Whether or not the above stated companies is a “going concern” or in existence/Registered companies under the company and allied matters Act, 2004?.
(2) Is whether or not the alleged sum was actually paid to these contractors?
(3) Is whether or not the contactors did not violate the public procurement Act, 2007 as regards to invitation to bid open to competitive bidden by virtue of section 25(1) of public procurement Act, 2007.
And lastly, assuming without conceding that the N25.5 Billion was actually paid to the contactors, where is the balance of N14.5 Billion as balance.
Information pieced together also unveils that the said contract by the Delta State Government is against the intendment of the public procurement Act, 2007, which is against section 25 (1)8(2) of the public procurement Acts 2007 provides as follows:
1. “Invitation to bid may be either by way of national competitive bidders or international competitive bidding and the bureau shall from time to time set the monetary thresholds for which procurements shall fall under either systems”.
2. “Every Invitation to open competitive bids shall:
In the case of goods and works under international competitive bidding, the invitation for bids shall be advertised in at least 2 national news papers and one relevant internationally recognized publication, any official websites of the procuring entity and the bureau as well as the procurement journal not less than 6 weeks before the deadline for submission of the bids for the goods and work.
Further shady deals noticed in the payment of the contracts was that no certificates for jobs were issued by the State Government to any of the above contractors hence, this said companies was used as a front to embezzle and siphon monies in the guise of awarding spurious and fictitious contract and most of which were never executed. Billionaires of naira was embezzlement and misappropriated under the guise of contract yet the entire roads in the state is dilapidated and in a state of disrepair.
