The Ilorin zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has handed over a draft of N147m looted funds recovered from some officials of the immediate past government in Kwara State.
Handing over the money to the state Commissioner for Finance and Planning, Florence Olasunbo Oyeyemi, the zonal head of the commission, Kazeem Oseni, said the sum of N138m was recovered from contractors who handled projects from the state internal revenue service, KWIRS.
He disclosed that another N9m was recovered from officials of the state Universal Basic Education Board SUBEB.
The commission recently quizzed some officials of SUBEB including its suspended Permanent Secretary in Kwara, Alhaji Bayo Onimago, for alleged insertion of some ghost workers in its payroll.
Oseni, while handing over the money said, “The Acting Chairman of the commission, Umar Muhammed, approved that the sum of N147m recovered from suspected treasury looters be returned to the Kwara State government.
He said, “In our humble efforts to sanitize the system, we try to investigate all crimes committed in the society and bring the culprits to book.”
He said, “We are using this opportunity to tell you that the commission will recover more monies for both the state government and individuals who are cheated in one way or the other.”
Receiving the money on behalf of the state government, the Commissioner for Finance, commended the efforts of the anti-graft agency in the efforts to stamp out corruption and abuse of public office from the system.
She assured that the recovered money would be utilised for the public’s intended purpose.
