Aviation fund: EFCC arrests Fani-Kayode, Borishade

Aviation fund: EFCC arrests Fani-Kayode, Borishade

John Alechenu, Abuja

PUNCHNG
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have arrested two former ministers of Aviation — Dr. Babalola Borishade and Chief Femi Fani-Kayode — for their roles in the disbursement of the N19.5bn Aviation Intervention Fund.

Also arrested was a former Director-General of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Mr. Roland Iyayi.

The three men were picked up around 6.25pm on Monday after appearing before the Senate Committee on Aviation.

Borishade and Iyayi were driven out of the National Assembly premises in Abuja in a white Toyota bus marked Abuja AU 329 YAB. Fani-Kayode, who wore a striped dark suit was allowed by the operatives to ride in his black Range Rover marked LAGOS JH A20 AAA.

Fani-Kayode, who was also a former Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had told THE PUNCH on Sunday that he would tell the world what he knew about the N19.5bn intervention fund.

He said his decision to appear was because of the misinformation that he disbursed the whole N19.5bn.

The EFCC had on June 23 arrested Mr. George Eider, the representative of Avsatel, an Austrian firm that won tower projects’ contracts for four airports.

Borishade and Fani-Kayode had during their appearance before the committe disagreed over the disbursement of the N19.5bn..

While Borishade claimed that he did not authorise the withdrawal of any amount from the fund before he left office, Fani-Kayode said not all the money was made available to him.

Borishade had said,“The approval for the opening of the letter of Credit for the Safe Tower Project was only commitment authorised by me in respect of the Intervention Fund before I was redeployed on November 7, 2006. No withdrawal was made from this facility before I left.”

But Fani-Kayode countered him, saying, “What must be clearly understood is that not all this money was made available to me when I got there.

“What happened was that before I got into that office, a substantial part of that money had been sourced and had been spent by my predecessor in office, Dr. Borishade.

“Consequently, N8.5bn had been sourced and approximately N8.4bn had been spent from that sum before I came into that office.

“When I assumed my duties as the minister in November 2006, the sum of N11bn (which was the balance of the intervention fund) was released to me from the National Resource Development Account by the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for application.”

Fani-Kayode also told the committee that there was N2bn which was not part of the intervention fund which was also jointly administered by the ministry and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria .

He said the N2bn, a soft loan from the Rivers State Government, was given to FAAN directly for the rehabilitation of the runway of Port Harcourt International Airport.

Fani-Kayode claimed that “out of the N2bn, approximately N350m was spent on things outside the runway before he assumed office.”

He said,“When I got to the Ministry, I was given the responsibility of administering N11billion (Intervention Fund) plus a further N1.63m (soft loan from the Rivers State Government ).

“The records will show that out of the N11bn that I was asked to administer, I only released approximately N3.8bn and out of the N1.63bn, I only released N1.5bn.

“The records show that consequently by the time I left the ministry, approximately N7.2bn was left in the intervention fund account and a further N133m was left out of the N1.6bn that I was given for the airport runway.”

Borishade also said he was aware that N2bn was released for the payment of the severance package of retired aviation workers.

He said the idea of collecting a loan from Zenith Bank to finance the rehabilitation of tower projects in four of the nation’s airports at N6.5bn was not his but that of a former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Asked whether he was aware of a N45bn Bilateral Air Services Agreement Account, he answered in the affirmative but added that he did not access the sum after several memos.

The committee observed that a recent quotation from the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency indicated that the contract for the rehabilitation of the towers in the four airports could be executed with N1.03bn.

It then wondered why it was awarded for N6.5b in 2006.

Head of the Bureau for Public Procurement (Due Process), Mr. Emeka Eze, in his testimony said the bureau raised queries when it discovered that certain documentations concerning the contract were not done.

Our correspondents also learnt that EFCC operatives on Monday quizzed Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako, his deputy, and Chief of Staff over an alleged N6.8bn contract inflation.

A source said the contract was in connection with the supply of vehicles to state House of Assembly members.

The governor was accused of awarding contract reportedly without tender and making illegal deductions from local government funds.

Our correspondent gathered that another charge was that he awarded a contract to his firm, known simply as Sebori.

The EFCC was said to have acted on a petition sent by one Alhaji Saidu Halidi.

The Head of EFCC’s Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Babafemi, confirmed the development on the telephone on Monday.

But he did not provide details.