ICPC summoned by reps to address the retrieval of unspent COVID-19 intervention fund

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts is scheduled to hear testimony from the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) about the purported recovery of COVID-19 intervention funds that were disbursed to all Federal Health Institutions nationwide.

Following the investigative hearing on the use of multibillion naira approved for the implementation of various projects in various health institutions, the decision was passed.

During its examination of the financial statements submitted by the Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) of Federal Medical Centres (FMCs), the Committee led by Hon. Bamidele Salam (PDP-Osun) expressed dissatisfaction with the improper use of the intervention fund and the omission of mandatory levies like stamp duty and withholding tax (WHT) from contracts awarded during that time.

Speaking during the investigative hearings, the MPs expressed disapproval at the level of disdain for both the Public Procurement Act, which required that taxes on contracts given by public institutions should be deductible, and current financial standards.

The letters from the ICPC asking for a refund of the money left over from the COVID-19 intervention fund that had been provided to them caused concern among a few Chief Medical Directors.

The text says: “The Commission is looking into a possible breach of the Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, which has led to the need to contact your organisation.

“In light of the aforementioned and in accordance with section 28 of the aforementioned Act, you are hereby required to reimburse the remaining amounts of funds released by Covid-19 intervention.

The reimbursement must be deposited via the Remita platform into the ICPC TSA Recovery Account. Refer to the attached copy.

As a result, you are also asked to provide the Commission with proof of reimbursement (RRR) by November 18, 2022, at the latest.

A portion of the letter said, “Attachment overleaf is a self-explicit memo on how to generate remita and make payment into the aforementioned account for proper guidance.”

Upon being contacted, a Chief Medical Director, who wished to remain anonymous, said that all Federal Government-owned health institutions received a letter of this nature.

Still, he noted that the letter had been sent this year.

Deputy Chairman Hon. Jeremiah Useni expressed concern about the development, asking, “Are you released from the Accountant General, what are you supposed to do, and you didn’t spend them? How should you proceed?

“What did you do when the ICPC wrote to you? Second, I noticed that you included payment guidance with your payment for statutory deductions and remittances, but I was unable to locate PV to display the calculations.

Hon. Palace intervened, voicing his displeasure with the CMDs and directors of finance and administration of various health institutions’ string of complaints. “I want to urge the Committee, similar case like this on refunding money to ICPC, I think this is the fourth one that we are investigating,” he said.

The MPs also discovered duplicate invoices and unnumbered bills from FMC Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Director of Finance and Administration.

Declaring, “We have a very serious need to look deeper to most of our institutions, something is fundamentally wrong,” Hon. Salam accused the DFA of intentionally undervaluing the Federation by failing to deduct the statutory taxes from the money given to the contractors.

When the Committee asked who prepared the financial records that were submitted, the DFA informed them that the Chief Medical Director’s SA and the Head of Procurement had prepared the records.

He added that this is the first time he has seen the materials.

However, in response to the same query, the CMD stated that the Director of Finance and the Head of Procurement had prepared the documents and that he was aware of them.

The DFA quickly declared that he was accountable for the mistakes in the financial documents.

“You are a very loyal civil servant, but this can lead you to where you don’t want to go!” Hon. Salam stated in response to the situation.

This indicates that you are prepared to face the appropriate repercussions.

“These violations have repercussions, and you might serve as an example of the choice we make. We will apply this to you and make any necessary deductions.

Similar to this, the MPs discovered a number of contracts valued at more than N350 million, which exceeds the N100 million cap and can be approved by any public institution without needing approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) or the Minister.

Hon. Ademorin Kuye claims that agreements were signed the same day that a company based in Lagos State was given various contracts awarded by FMC Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, during lockdown.

Hon. Kuye expressed concern about the shocking discovery by stating, “It is not possible to meet all the requirements in a single day.” Your contracts appear dubious.

The legislators also questioned the management of FMC over the reason behind the hold-up in awarding and procuring the majority of the contracts for which funding was granted in 2020 and 2021 but which have not yet been finished in 2023.

In his ruling, Hon. Salam expressed disapproval of the current state of financial regulations and instructed the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (oAuGF) to determine the appropriate penalties for different violations. The goal is to recoup the funds from the contractors as well as the negligent Chief Medical Directors and Directors of Finance and Administration of different healthcare facilities.