Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita has been quizzed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over a N3billion contract scam.
Oyo-Ita who faced a four day grilling by EFCC has now landed in hospital after administrative bail was granted to her, the Nation reports.
Part of the interrogation includes abuse of duty tour, money laundering and stealing of government funds.
During the process of investigation, N600million was traced to an account of one of her key aides who couldn’t give anit tangible excuse for having such amount.
Findings also confirmed that about N3billion was traced to the Head of Service which came in through proxy companies.
A source privy to the ongoing investigation said: “Preliminary investigation confirmed that she used different fronts or cronies to obtain contracts from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)
“While tracing embezzlement by the ex-Minister, detectives stumbled on diversion of funds into proxy companies which the Head of Service has relationship with.
“The startling revelations made detectives to dig further into her activities as a Permanent Secretary and Head of Service.
“There were proofs of how she secured contracts through proxy firms from some ministries including Special Duties, Power, Works and others. There was a case of abuse of office because there was evidence of pressure on Permanent Secretaries to get her contracts. She moved from one ministry to the other.
“Investigators also discovered that she was involved in falsification of Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) and estacodes
“About N600million has been traced to the account of one of her aides. This illicit account has been blocked and the EFCC is in the process of invoking interim forfeiture clause.”