Senate has exposed irregularities in N1.1 trillion worth of Federal Government investments in a United Kingdom (UK) foreign exchange regulated provider, Crown Agents Bank, and some other financial institutions.
Crown Agents Bank is a regulated provider of wholesale foreign exchange (forex) and cross-border payment services connected across the frontier and emerging markets.
In the report adopted by the Senate, the Accountant-General of the Federation was accused of failing to present the shares certificate to authenticate the genuineness of Federal Government investments in Crown Agents Bank and financial institutions in Nigeria.
The irregularities as revealed by the 2015 audit report, arose from the failure of the Accountant-General of the Federation to provide the share certificate to authenticate the genuineness of N46 billion investment in 2015, and written authority for the disposal of the sum of N134.3 billion as the account into which the proceeds were credited was not provided for audit.
Also stated in the report is that there were no additional investments in the power sector during the year under review, as against N547.8 billion being opening balance in the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) at the beginning of 2015.
The report stated further that Crown Agents disposed off investment totaling N3billion, while additional investments amounting to N439.7billion were also acquired during the year under review without documentary evidence, adding that there was an account where the proceeds of the disposal of the sum of N3bn credited was not provided for audit confirmation.
It was unraveled that about N239 billion investment was an overcast recorded in the 2014 investment.
The committee, chaired by Senator Matthew Urhoghide, however rejected the explanation of the Accountant-General of the Federation, as he was unable to produce the share certificate.
Based on the Committee presentation, the Senate ordered the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to provide the share certificate to the Auditor-General for audit within 60 days.
