Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
Ondo State House of Assembly has revealed how 88 ghost workers, who claimed to be in the employ of the state government, allegedly received N48.2 milliom as car loan.
The House had, through its Committee on Public Account, audited the account of the state government.
It was also gathered that the 2019 audit report submitted to the House of Assembly showed that the loans were allegedly taken by ghost workers.
The report indicated that some beneficiaries of the car loan got double amount of money, while 86 workers in both the civil and teaching service collected loans above what they were qualified for.
It was through the audit report that the lawmakers learnt that N4.3 billion was stashed in a new generation bank account for over 10 years.
Part of the audit report stated that N9,750,000 was fraudulently disbursed to 16 non-public officers between October and December 2018.
The report also showed that N38,460,000 was given to 66 persons whose names could not be found on the state’s salary payment register and who were consequently deemed to be non-government employees.
According to the report, the Director, Treasury Service, T. R. Akinsanmi and E. D. Jegede who was the head of Car Loan Unit, were responsible for the signing of the bank confirmation schedules for cheques issued in respect of the disbursement.
The report also showed that most of the disbursements were done without regard to due process.