The Accountant-General of the Federation's office has cleared a director and another official at the Federal
The clearance, contained in a memo, exonerated Joshua Kadmi, Director of Finance and Account (DFA), and
"No payment was made in the Ministry without the approval of the Solicitor-General/Permanent Secretary," the report, dated
Signed by C. N. Anamekwe, the Director of Treasury Inspectorate of the
Allegations
The petitioner, Integrity and Transparency Watch, had, in its petition dated
They allegedly perpetrated the fraud through the private accounts of
The alleged accounts were given as 2064800888 and 0050341092 with
The petitioner stated that DTAs ought to be paid to individual accounts in accordance with e-payment circular of the
It added that instead, millions of naira transferred from
It also stated that money was withdrawn from
It said all the transactions occurred in the month of November and December, 2021 towards the financial year and when unspent funds were to be paid to the government coffers.
According to the petitioner, the financial recklessness of the DFA led the hurried transfer of the internal Auditor, a deputy director,
The petitioner called for an immediate investigation into the fraudulent activities which it claimed were grave to the nation's economy.
Following a request by the permanent secretary,
Findings
The panel, after concluding its investigations, cleared the duo of Messrs Kamdi and Danjuma of the alleged misappropriation, saying the payments by them were done with requisite approval of the approving authority.
Contrary to the petitioner's claim, the panel said
It added that apart from the fact that all payments in the ministry were with the approval of the Solicitor-General/Permanent Secretary, "All the payment vouchers were prepared according to the provisions of Financial Regulation i.e the PV's were checked, enter into the vote book and checked by the internal audit."
"The payment vouchers were posted accordingly into all relevant boos of content," it added.
It also stated that the payment made through the account of the project accountant,
On the allegation of hurried transfer of
This, the panel, said, was because "the responsibility of posting pool officers (accountants and interval auditors) lies solely with the Accountant-General of the Federation and so was testified by the aforementioned officer."
It also stated that "Other allegations bordering on money in '
But the panel faulted the appointment of
Recommendations
Among other recommendations, the panel advised the
It added that the ministry must "also ensure that the operating process/projects are perfected in the
In addition, it said, the petitioner "should be advised to always verify facts before writing on matters relating to government expenditure and should be made to be aware of the consequence of wrong whistleblowing."
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