EFCC grills Kwankwaso over alleged N10b pension fraud

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EFCC grills Kwankwaso over alleged N10b pension fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday quizzed former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, over allegation of diversion of public funds and fraudulent allocation of government properties to cronies.

The former governor was being investigated over a 2015 petition by Concerned Kano State Workers and Pensioners, who alleged that he violated the Kano State Pension and Gratuity Law of 2007 in the management of pension remittances, amounting to about N10 billion, contributed between 2011 and 2015.

A top source at the anti-graft agency, who pleaded anonymity, told The Guardian yesternight that Kwankwaso, who turned himself in after repeated invitations extended to him, was being grilled by operatives of the commission.

Recall that Kwankwaso, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had shunned previous invitations by the anti-corruption agency.

According to the petition before the EFCC, Kwankwaso had directed that pension remittances be used for housing development, largely to favour the pensioners.

A tripartite deal was later reached between Kano State Pension Trust Funds as the investors and Kano State Investment and Property Limited and Kano State Housing Corporation Limited as developers on a 60:40 sharing ratio.

However, after contracts for the construction of 1,579 houses were awarded for the development of ‘Kwankwasiya, Amana, and Bandarawa Cities,’ the petitioners alleged that Kwankwaso manipulated the process to terminate the terms of the agreement and made outright allocations in favour of his aide and cronies.

The petitioners alleged that the manipulation happened in May 2015.