There might be more ghost workers in the federal government employment than it was known to the Ministry of Finance, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed.
A top source in EFCC said, “The fact that the commission’s investigation revealed additional 200 ghost workers indicates that the size of the scam could be more than what the ministry reported. The amount involved is certainly more than N1 billion.
“The latest clues at our disposal have shown that more civil servants were involved in the IPPIS scandal. We are analysing all these fresh clues” he said.
The detectives at EFCC were shocked to discover that most of the slush accounts used for the pay fraud have, either irregular Bank Verification Number (BVN) or no BVN at all, it was learnt on Sunday.
Investigation revealed that the payments were routed through micro finance banks operating in Abuja.
The new sets of ghost workers were discovered following investigation on the alleged payment of about One billion naira to 23,000 fake workers as disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.
It was gathered that some civil servants had fled from their duty posts following the exposure of the syndicates involved in the racket.
More workers especially in accounts departments might be invited within the next few days by the anti-graft agency, sources close to the investigation revealed.
The source said, “we are on the trail of most of the culprits and their accomplices outside the civil service.”
“It is amazing how the members of the syndicate were able to penetrate the banks to perpetrate the fraud,” the source added.
“It is apparent that members of the syndicate were working in collaboration with some staff of one or two banks,” he pointed out.
“We are, however, conducting due diligence on all the accounts to sift the wheat from the chaff. In fact, some of the accounts made available by the ministry of finance do not belong to ghost workers. We will not allow the innocent to suffer.”
Meanwhile, The EFCC has released on bail, Ronke Usman, one of those implicated in the alleged ghost workers fraud.
She has been granted bail pending conclusion of the investigation. But her husband, Dayo Usman Aliyu, was still being detained.
The Minister had recently summoned the managing director of a first generation bank over the alleged complicity of the bank in the payment to 23,000 ghost workers on the payroll of the Federal Government.
Also, she asked the Director General of Pension Commission, Ms Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, to appear before a probe panel in the ministry on how Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) allegedly generated fake PFA numbers for the “ghost workers”.
After the initial probe by the ministry, the Minister handed over the case to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
