Siemens: 10 top govt officials to face EFCC

[bamalli]

Ten top serving and former government officials are to face the five man panel set up by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) probing an alleged 17.5million Euros dubious payment by Siemens beginning Tuesday.
A senior EFCC official said those to be interrogated between Tuesday and Friday are from Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Nigerian Telecommunications Company (NITEL) and Power and Steel Ministry.

The serving officials include CEO PHCN Engr. G.O.P Osakwe, Perm. Sec. Power & Steel Ministry Engr. S.M. Mahmood, Secretary NITEL Tenders Board R. Olusanju, Director NITEL Allah Bamulafiya and Legal Adviser NITEL Samson Olabiyi.

The former government functionaries are former MD PHCN Engr. Joseph Makoju, former MD NITEL Albert Mashi, former GM NITEL E.C Ossai, CEO MTEL Edwin Momfe, Ex-Director PHCN Shuaibu Maigida.

EFCC's Spokesman Femi Babafemi confirmed their invitations to the anti-graft agency.

Already the commission obtained the statements of two ex-ministers of communication - Current Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Halliru Bello Mohammed and retired Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju last week.

Chief Cornelius Adebayo, also an ex-Minister sought permission to address a medical problem at an undisclosed hospital in Canada but he had already been quizzed over the matter.

EFCC bolstered the case which has been under investigation since 2007 after former financial head of Siemens telecoms unit Michael Kutschenreuter and the former head of accounting were found guilty by a Munich court in Germany of bribing government officials in Russia and Nigeria to secure contracts.

Siemens has identified around 1.3 billion Euros in dubious payments that changed hands between 2000 and 2006. The affair has cost the company around 2.5 billion Euros in fines, investigations and back taxes.

Frm:Dailytrust