A forensic audit report has disclosed that about N11.9 billion was looted from the treasury of Kwara State between 2011 and 2019. The report also showed that N2 billion cash withdrawals not tied to any project or official expenditure was made within eight days in February 2019, barely one month to the general election. Presenting the report to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Thursday, Partner at the SSAC and Professionals Anthony Iniomoh said the report covered Internally Generated Revenue; capital receipts; internal and external loans; recurrent/ overhead expenditure; personnel cost (salaries and wages); capital expenditure; assets disposed; Kwara State Internal Revenue Service; Infrastructural Fund Kwara (IFK); and Harmony Holdings Limited, among others.
Iniomoh said: “A few highlights of our findings may be necessary for the record. Our forensic audit revealed a colossal pilferin of N11, 981,268,709 which we recommended should be recovered to the public coffers. Similarly, we recommended to the state government to prosecute certain officers and companies in addition to claiming exemplary damages on transactions totalling N6, 023,358,444, among other key findings.
“This is especially so in the cases of firms that we observed were paid huge public funds without any evidence of work done on record. In one instance, records show that a firm that was incorporated at the Corporate Affairs Commission on 14th June, 2016 was paid by the state government for a contract it purportedly executed for the state in April of the same year. It became apparent that this was a preconceived attempt to defraud the state.” AbdulRazaq said the revelations were truly disturbing but hardly surprising, given the patterns of events in those years. He said: “We thank you for the robust work. It confirms what we have been saying all along.
“We also saw that it has taken a bit of time and I know that there were certain deliberate efforts to obstruct your work. That was why it has taken some time because you have made certain complaints about that and we tried to push those that were supposed to open the doors to make the doors easy for you. “Your report, like others, will help us to steadily put the state in the right direction to deepen transparency and accountability. We will go through the report fully and look into your recommendations.”
