As controversies
continue to trail the discovery of N4.3b allegedly lodged in an account in
Zenith Bank by the Ondo State Government, the administration of former Governor
Olusegun Agagu has been absolved of any complicity in the matter.
Days after the
revelation in the house, the then Commissioner for Finance in the Agagu
administration, who is now the Minister of State for Niger Delta, Chief Tayo Alasoadura,
said all bank accounts operated by the administration were in the name of Ondo
State Government and all were on record.
According to him, the
inability of the administration to properly hand over to the Olusegun Mimiko
administration in 2009, due to the Court of Appeal judgement that sacked Agagu as
governor, may have contributed to the error in documentation.
Alasoadura, however
blamed the bank for not calling the attention of the new administration to such
account since the government operated accounts in all banks operating in the
state, as a policy.
The Minister, while
commending the Akeredolu led administration for discovering the account and the
money faulted the mimiko led regime for not discovering the account.
Meanwhile, The Ondo
State House of Assembly says it will do everything within its constitutional
power to unravel the circumstances surrounding the 4.3 billion naira in a
secret account in a third generation bank.
Further revelations
concerning the fund came to the fore at plenary on Thursday when the Chairman
House Committee on Public Acounts, Honourable Edamisan Ademola reeled out the list
of banks which at various times benefitted from the alleged secret
transactions.
Honourable Edamisan
challenged the competence of the Accountant General for failing to produce
necessary documents bearing the transactions and the accrued interest to date,
maintaining that if the statements of financial transactions in the listed
banks were not supplied as requested, the House would be forced to take
necessary steps as entrenched in the Constitution.
Among other details,
the House sought to know the source of the
fund, the date the money was lodged into the alleged secret account, the person
who authorised the lodging and the accrued interest to date.
The Commissioner for
Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa pledged to provide the necessary documents as
requested by the House.
In his ruling, the
Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon Oleyelogun Bamidele David mandated the
Commissioner and the Accountant General to furnish the House with documents on
the alleged secret transactions on Thursday 21st May, 2020.
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