N62bn fraud: Report indicts Ohakim

Category: News Published on Wednesday, 16 January 2013 06:00

From Johnkennedy Uzoma, Owerri

The first part of the report of the Imo State Account Reconciliation has indicted the admi-nistration of former Governor Ikedi Ohakim of embezzling N62 billion during a financial transaction that occurred between June 2007 to May 2011.

Handing over the document to Governor Rochas Okorocha at the Government House Owerri yesterday, the deputy governor and the chairman of the committee Sir Jude Agbaso said government decided to bring to public the findings of financial transactions of the past administration in line with calls by Imo citizens.

The report said that Ohakim’s administration and the local government areas received a total of N420.2 billion during the 4 years of his regime including N18.5 billion of bond proceeds out of which N5.1billion was utilized living a cumulative sum of N438.7 billion of the financial resources available during the period.

The committee stated that the past adminis-tration took a loan amounting to N63.9 billion of which N33.3 billion was not repaid and was inherited by the present government adding that Ohakim during the 2011 governorship election borrowed N6.2 billion from UBA Bank being money spent as security vote.

The committee discovered that some of the loans acquired by the previous government were done without fulfilling legal requirements designed to protect the state from certain undue exposures and fraudulent utilization.

Okorocha while receiving the report com-mended the chairman and members of the committee adding that the judicial panel also set up by government would find the documents useful in doing its job.

He said the present administration will not cover up corruption while describing as unfor-tunate the huge spending by his predecessor with ‘nothing to show for it’.

Okorocha said the document would be handed over to appropriate agencies including EFCC, ICPC to enable them carry out further and thorough investigations on the financial transaction of the past administration.