A Vital Step Against Fraud Suspects
By Sebastine Obasi
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Kenny Martins and Ibrahim Dumuje have been interrogated over the fraud in the Police Equipment Fund
The drama over allegations of fraud in the Police Equipment Fund, PEF, assumed a far more serious dimension last week. Two key leaders of the organisation, Kenny Martins and Ibrahim Dumuje were at the premises of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to explain their role in the fraud involving over N50 billion raised through donations to equip the Nigerian Police. This is the first time since the fraud became known last year, that the anti-graft agency would directly get involved in its investigation.
The action of the EFCC is sequel to a hand -written letter to President Umar Yar'dua and the EFCC by Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto asking them to carry out a thorough investigation into the activities of the fund. The Sultan was the chairman of the Board of Trustees, BOT, of the foundation, until March 2008, when he resigned. He may have been taken aback by the alleged forgery of his signature by Kenny Martins, co-ordinator of the foundation, and Ibrahim Dumuje, his deputy.
The two had registered a company known as PEF Security and Communications Limited, using the Sultan's name as a front. The company with a registration number RC.718689 was used to solicit for donations abroad. Newswatch learnt that a $10million grant was given to the company, by a European-based organisation, which felt convinced when they saw the Sultan's name as the chairman of the company. When Sultan learnt of the forgery and the shady deal that followed in its wake, he halted the disbursement of the money. This did not go down well with Martins who vowed to fight back. An enraged Sultan, therefore, petitioned both Yar'Adua and the EFCC to, as a matter of urgency, initiate a thorough probe into PEF.
It was learnt that Yar'Adua reacted swiftly by consenting to the probe. Ali Amodu, a commissioner of Police and head of Monitoring Unit is in charge of the investigation. When Martins and Dumuje were invited by the EFCC, they did not honour the invitation.
Penultimate Friday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Mohammed Wakili, director of operations, EFCC, made efforts to have a chat with Dumuje, who was in the lounge waiting for a Lagos-bound flight. On sighting him, Dumuje ran. In a scene reminiscent of a home movie, Wakili pursued him shouting, "he is my suspect, he is my suspect." Bewildered passengers watched as Dumuje was eventually arrested and taken to Idiagbon House, the national operational base of the EFCC located at Wuse, Abuja.
Having being informed of what happened to Dumuje, Martins surrendered himself to EFCC, citing health reason for his inability to honour the Commission's invitation earlier. He was detained and later released to attend to his health.
Yaro Gella, who was a representative of the Police Affairs Ministry in PEF, before his retirement is equally being detained by the EFCC. It was learnt that even after his retirement, he was still signing some documents on behalf of the ministry.
Before now, there have been petitions and complaints by concerned Nigerians about fraud in PEF and the subsequent conversion of the fund into a foundation. Prominent among the petitions was the one sent by Festus Keyamo, human rights lawyer and counsel to Godson Ewulum, foundation member of the fund, who was the first person to expose the fraud.
Some of Keyamo's allegations were that N7.74 billion made up of N10 million deducted from the allocations of each of the 774 local government councils in Nigeria, and given to the fund, has been unaccounted for. He also said that PEF management claimed to have spent N13 billion on exotic cars ranging from Jeeps, Toyota Camry and BMW cars, while the actual cost was not up to N4 billion Naira. Again, Martins and Dumuje were said to have claimed to have acquired and delivered two helicopters from Ukraine to the Nigerian Police. The two were also said to have spent N202.5 million on a pre-launch dinner for PEF.
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