Wanted former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina has accused the 7th senate of aiding pension thieves.

The 7th senate was led by senator from Benue state, David Mark.

Background:

• Maina was said to have committed N2bn fraud in 2011 before fleeing the country.
• He was later discovered to be an assistant director in the Ministry of Internal Affairs while still on the EFCC’s wanted list.
• President Buhari immediately ordered his sack from the Federal Civil Service.
• The former pension boss has gone into hiding since then.

What Maina said:

In a letter written to the senate on June 19, 2015 and leaked on Friday, Maina said over N3tn hidden had yet to be recouped from 97 pension offices before he fled the country.

His lawyers, Messrs Mamman Nadir & Co. confirmed the authenticity of the letter.

The letter was titled, “Pension reform task team — Appeal for review of investigation by the Senate Joint Committee on Establishment and Public Service and States and Local Government Administration, 2011 – 2013.”

Maina said his task force saved the country N1.6tn from “pension thieves,” adding that “we used financial intelligence to achieve groundbreaking achievements in our assignment.”

He added that 46 people were also arrested for pension fraud and handed over to the EFCC.

The letter read in part, “The PRTT took off effectively by January 2011. We used financial intelligence skills to achieve groundbreaking achievements in our assignment.

“N256bn is still stolen monthly. As it is, there is a leakage of N256bn monthly from the current IPPIS, which needs to be blocked urgently. We are also aware of some government hidden accounts which need to be mopped up. We can be used to engage any department of government in sanitising the financial workflow to avoid loose ends that remain susceptible to leakages.

“Based on the revelations of massive/monumental fraud and outright stealing of pension funds, which was brought to public attention by the PRTT, the 7th National Assembly by resolution dated November 2, 2011, mandated its Committee on Establishment and Public Service, State and Local Government Administration, to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the management and administration of Pension funds in Nigeria.

“There were general expectations that the various dimensions of irregularities associated with the management of pension funds in Nigeria would come to an end as a consequence of the investigations being conducted by the Senate Joint Committee.”

He said the Senate joint committee aided pension thieves and created more problems while investigating the task force.

Maina disclosed that shortly after he was forced out, the Office of the Head of Service was enmeshed in a N35bn fraud.

He added that the ICPC conducted an investigation into the matter but regretted that “till date, they have yet to commence the prosecution.”

“Today, it (pension) is worse with the Police Pension Office, where millions are taken out of pension funds daily. We have pieces of evidence to substantiate this,” he added.