ICPC Grills NDDC Officials Over N5.4bn Fraud

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has quizzed senior officials of the Niger Delta Development Commission over N5.4bn fraud.

ICPC revealed that some NDDC directors were interrogated following petitions from Nigerians over alleged in the awarding of contracts and other fraud by some officials of the agency.

ICPC further revealed that it is also investigating the payment of millions of naira to the staff of the agency for foreign trainings during the Covid-19 full lockdown which were never attended.

Also revealing that it was probing the nonpayment of entitlement to students on Foreign scholarships, the release by ICPC read:

“The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has quizzed top management staff of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), over allegations of various acts of corruption such as diversion of funds, procurement fraud and misappropriation of the agency’s Covid-19 funds.

“Some directors of NDDC were interrogated at the Commission’s headquarters recently, after months of intelligence gathering, following the receipt of petitions from Nigerians on the alleged illegalities and contracts fraud by some officials of the agency.

“Top officials of the agency are being investigated for their complicity in an alleged diversion of N5.474 billion meant for the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for health workers handling the Covid-19 pandemic in the nine states of NDDC.

“The Commission is also investigating the payments of millions of naira to staff of the agency for foreign trainings during the Covid-19 full lockdown which were never attended, as well as the non-payment of entitlements to students on foreign scholarships.

“Other allegations being investigated by ICPC include the selling of back-dated contract award letters for projects and awards of contracts that were not captured in the budget of the NDDC.

“ICPC had already retrieved relevant documents with which to continue investigations towards the recovery of diverted funds and prosecution of breaches of the law.”