Panel uncovers N24b fraud in Abia

The judicial panel of inquiry set up by Nigeria’s eastern state of Abia to probe the Abia Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development Fund (ASPPIDF) has uncovered N24 billion fraud between 1999 and 2012.

The Chairman of the panel, Justice Okey Nwosu, gave the figure when he presented the panel’s five-volume report to Governor Theodore Orji, at the Government House in Umuahia on Monday.

Nwosu said the amount was part of the internally-generated revenue by ASPPIDF since its inception in 1999. It urged the government to direct a comprehensive audit of the agency to determine the exact amount and those involved in the fraud.

Receiving the report, Orji said the panel was set up “not to witch-hunt but to find out why the fund could not live up to people’s expectation’’.

He commended the panel for the effort in carrying out its assignment and assured that the recommendations would be implemented.