Mike Okiro, former Inspector-General of Police and current chairman of the Police Service Commission, was on Thursday, June 4, quizzed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission over an alleged N275 million fraud in Abuja.
His interrogation was sequel to a petition by a member of staff of the PSC, Aaron Kaase, to the ICPC, claiming that Okiro allegedly siphoned N275m out of the N350m that was obtained by the commission from the Office of the National Security Adviser to train PSC staff.
Kaase alleged that Okiro had made bogus claims to train highly inflated number of his commission’s staff in Lagos, Abuja and Kano. He alleged that Okiro and others siphoned the said amount over a spurious claim that they would train 500 staff in Abuja; 200 in Lagos and another 200 in Kano, when the combined staff strength of the commission nationwide was not more than 400.
According to him, the trainings were roughly carried out to a few staff in Mararaba, a satellite community of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. He also alleged that Okiro and others claimed some millions of naira for separate overseas trainings, which they never attended. Kaase also stated that in Kano where 200 members of staff were said to be trained, the staff strength was merely 10.
By Dike Onwuamaeze
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