‘Phantom’ Council: ICPC Chair Submits Interim Report To Tinubu

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has concluded its investigation into the controversy surrounding the existence of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and submitted an interim report to President Bola Tinubu.

Addressing State House correspondents after submitting the report to the President, the Chairman of the ICPC, Musa Adamu Aliyu, said the commission discovered that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew was never appointed by the Presidency.

Following the controversy that trailed the phantom council, President Tinubu, on July 7, asked the ICPC to investigate the matter and submit its report within 30 days.

The ICPC chair said, based on the interim report, “We have discovered and it has been established that Adeyemi Matthew was never appointed by the federal government or any authority of government.”

He said the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council “was never established by any law or executive order or other instrument of government, and the appointment letter presented by Adeyemi Matthew was completely forged alongside similar documents used to perpetuate the illegal activities of the fake agency.”

The ICPC chair explained that Adeyemi cannibalised the former Presidential Economic Advisory Council to create his alleged fake agency and illegally appropriated offices and instruments of operation, saying he broke into the secretariat office from where he operated.

“What we discovered was that the office used by the fake agency was broken into. The lock was broken, and he had access to the office. That was how he was able to get inside that office, and also the false widespread impersonation and wide range of illegal activities were perpetrated by the fake DG or the fake agency, Adeyemi.

“Also, our internal report found that there are weaknesses in verification, inter-agency oversight and government processes. We discovered that those weaknesses were exploited by Adeyemi with some level of negligence.”

The ICPC boss said the investigation found that no funds belonging to the federal government were approved or disbursed to the council.

He added that the fake appointment letter presented by Matthew did not originate from the Presidency, while the ICPC also discovered that Adeyemi allegedly created two additional fictitious government agencies apart from the one already known in the public domain.

“Our investigation revealed two other fake government agencies, namely FCT Investment Promotion Agency and Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership. To facilitate the creation of the additional two fake agencies, he used forged legislative instruments styled as enabling acts and used them to support the opening of bank accounts.

“We discovered that he has opened two bank accounts in a commercial bank, which he went to use in these illegal activities.”

Recommendations

As part of the recommendations, the ICPC boss said Mr Adeyemi should be prosecuted, while administrative sanctions should be imposed on public officers “whose acts of omissions, negligence, facilitated the illegal operation of the council because our investigation found that some public officers failed to do due diligence.”

“They failed to adhere with the standard procedures that are supposed to be complied with in their ministries and departments, and that gave Adeyemi Matthew the opportunity to conduct this illegal act.

“Then institutional reform has also been recommended that there is need for institutional reform so that the internal control of the MDAs can be strengthened to block this kind of illegal activity.” (Dailyntrust)