Barring any last minute change, the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, are set to arrest some senior staff of the Joint Matriculation Board, JAMB, allegedly fingered in the loss of over N8billion revenue.
The examination body is said to have failed to remit revenues in excess of N8billion to the Federal Government between 2010 and 2015. The amount include unremitted Value Added Tax and Withholding Tax.
Recall that following the surprise remittance of N7.8billion to the Federal Government by the Ishaq Oloyede- led management of the examination body, the federal Government, working on the suspicion that the previous management had defrauded the federation of billions in unremitted revenues, had ordered a forensic audit of the accounts of JAMB from 2010 to 2015.
EFCC sources told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the report of the forensic audit committee was turned in some months ago and subsequently forwarded to the EFCC by the minister of finance, Kemi Adeaosun, for criminal investigation.
Following the submission of the audit report, the Commission set up a crack investigative panel to review the report and take further investigative steps to bring indicted culprits to book.
The EFCC source further disclosed that the panel has taken the report through a fine tooth comb.
“We are looking at a number of accounts with suspicious inflows and outflows.
“From the detailed analyses of the accounts, we have identified a few officers that would help our investigations because funds have been traced to their accounts. Very soon, we will be inviting them for questioning.
“Among the officers that we may invite are a serving director and a retired director of the examination body”, the source said.
The source also stated that the anti-graft agency is set to prosecute a number of officers of JAMB already indicted in the investigation around the loss of revenues from sale of scratch cards by some of the state offices of the examination body.
Among the staff that may be arraigned in court any moment from now is an official based in Makurdi, Philomina Chieshe, who claimed that a snake swallowed N36 million. The money was part of the proceeds of the sale of scratch cards.
Chieshe, who was arrested months back by the EFCC allegedly told interrogators that the money was collected in installments from her by her Coordinator, Mr. Samuel Umoru.
She claimed that the coordinator usually asked her to withdraw proceeds of the sale of the cards from her account in two banks.
“This money that I withdraw, the coordinator used it for the office and some time for himself,” she said.
