ICPC wants cooperative chief docked for alleged N1.7b fraud

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has prayed a Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrate’s Court in Abuja to grant an order for the remand of the National Coordinator of the Federal Civil Service Staff with Disabilities Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Alhaji Iliasu Olanrewaju Abdul-Rauf, in prison over an alleged N1.7 billion fraud.

Currently under arrest, the anti-graft agency accused Abdul-Rauf of multiple corrupt acts, including bribery, breach of trust and criminal misappropriation running into hundreds of millions of naira.

ICPC spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa, in a statement yesterday in Abuja, disclosed that after his arrest, a search of his house by operatives of the commission led to the rescue of 14 females between ages 11 and 33 years, in a locked room, adding that the victims had been handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigation.

The suspect, who is also facing multiple charges earlier pressed on him by the ICPC, was said to have been evading justice. According to Okoduwa, he is alleged to have used his position as to hoodwink contractors into donating cash and items such as wheelchairs, crutches and others as “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR) for non-existent contracts. She claimed that some of the contractors had paid as much as N50 million as “CSR”, while others delivered large quantities of items to him.

In the motion before the court, the commission stated that Abdul-Rauf allegedly failed to rehabilitate ‘disability centres’ across the federation after “collecting N1.7 billion from various contractors under the guise of awarding contracts for the project.”ICPC further claimed that the accused had a “history of running from the law, having absconded after an earlier charge filed against him by the commission.”

The motion, therefore, added that the remand would prevent his escape a second time pending the completion of investigation.The spokesperson urged contractors and businessmen to always verify the genuineness of contracts with relevant government agencies to avoid falling preys to swindlers.