Probe Panel Indicts Lawal Daura Over N8.2bn Pension Fund

[Edoman]

Accused of withdrawing N2.6b cash from agency’s accounts

• Investigators established that the sacked DG gave directives for the opening of the account “without any form of documentation and approval from the Office of Accountant General of the Federation”

There appears to be no respite yet for the sacked Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS) Mallam Lawal Musa Daura as a preliminary report of investigation by a probe panel set up to investigate financial allegations against him has indicted him for alleged embezzlement and money laundering while in office.

Saturday Sun had last month reported exclusively the detention of Daura in DSS ‘protective custody’ after his initial arrest and release by the police to allow detectives carry out extensive investigations on some allegations against him.

This followed his sack by the then Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, allegedly, on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari who was holidaying in London, and detained, on Tuesday, August 7, 2018. He has since remained in the DSS detention facility located in Gwarimpa, Abuja.

The team of investigators comprising operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and other security agencies in their report accused Daura of operating a phony account with a new generation bank, with a total in-flow of over N8.2 billion between November 2015 and April 2018 in five structured and systematic transactions. The account number is 1014481726 and is managed by one Miss Amara Maduagwu, a staff of the bank, believed to have a close relationship with Daura.

The investigators also established that the sacked DG gave directives for the opening of the account tagged ‘DSS Dedicated Pension Account’ on November 27, 2015 “without any form of documentation and approval from the Office of Accountant General of the Federation.”

A letter dated September 5, 2018 to the EFCC and signed by one M. Kalu for the Accountant General of the Federation with reference number OAGF/SD/ABJ/303/ VOL.1/22, says “The OAGF did not grant clearance and approval to the DSS to operate DSS Dedicated Pension Account No 1014881726 with…neither did the bank obtain clearance from OAGF to operate the said account.

Beside this, the investigators accused Daura of embarking on a pattern of cash withdrawals running into billions of naira. Specifically, the report said between January and December 2016, the embattled ex-intelligence chief approved and withdrew in cash the sum of N2, 675,858,185,09 from the accounts of DSS.

The report further disclosed that, while the Chief Security Officer to Daura, one Musa Garba had about a million naira in his bank account when he was appointed in 2015, investigation shows he now has a balance of N106 million in his naira account and another $120,000 in his domiciliary account.

The investigators also accused Daura of using a Lebanese, Mr Joseph Marc Khoury as a front to execute phony contracts. They said the Lebanese operates 36 different accounts in five banks.

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