The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered two more alleged fictitious agencies during its investigation into the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
The additional entities identified by the commission are the FCT Investment Promotion Agency (FIFA) and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership (PIPA-PPP), both of which were allegedly established by the purported Director-General of the PFIPC, Adeniyi Adeyemi.
ICPC Chairman, Musa Aliyu, disclosed the findings on Thursday after briefing President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on the outcome of the commission’s interim investigation.
The report followed a 30-day probe ordered by the President into allegations that forged appointment letters, fake government documents and purported presidential appointments were used to seek official recognition and diplomatic support, including visa facilitation.
Aliyu said preliminary findings showed that Adeyemi was never appointed by the Federal Government and that the purported appointment letter, gazette and other documents used to establish the PFIPC were forged.
He added that Adeyemi also relied on forged legislative instruments presented as enabling laws to facilitate the opening of bank accounts.
“Used forged legislative instruments styled as enabling acts, and used them to support opening of bank accounts.”
The ICPC chairman said the investigation further exposed significant weaknesses in government verification and oversight processes, which were allegedly exploited to create the impression that the PFIPC was a legitimate government agency.
“Our interim report found that there are weaknesses in verification, inter-agency oversight and government processes. We discovered that those weaknesses were exploited by Adeniyi, with some level of negligence.
“Our investigation found that no Federal Government funds were approved or disbursed to the fake PFIPC/PEAC,” the ICPC chairman stated.
Aliyu said the commission had recommended Adeyemi’s prosecution, administrative sanctions against public officers whose negligence allegedly enabled the operation of the fake agency, and institutional reforms to strengthen internal controls across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
“Our recommendation is that Mr Adeniyi Adeyemi should be prosecuted. Administrative sanctions should also be imposed on public officers whose acts of omission and negligence facilitated the illegal operation of PFIPC/PEAC.
“There is also a need for institutional reforms so that the internal controls of MDAs can be strengthened to prevent this kind of illegal activity,” he stated.
He noted that the report submitted to the President was interim, adding that investigations were continuing to identify other collaborators and strengthen the criminal case against the suspects.
“We have continued with the investigation of the activities of Mr Adeniyi Adeyemi and his collaborators so that we can unravel more facts and file criminal charges that can stand the test of time before a court of competent jurisdiction,” he said.