ICPC Arraigns Civil Servant Earning Two Salaries Monthly

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has arraigned a staff in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), Mr. Adotse Odang Anthony before an Abuja High Court for allegedly violating the provisions of the ICPC Act 2000 through corrupt enrichment and falsification of records.

Mr. Anthony was alleged to have manipulated records to fraudulently collect double monthly emolument from the Federation account to the tune of N353,756.52. He was slammed with a 10-count charge by ICPC before a High court sitting in Maitama, Abuja.

ICPC  Counsel, Barrister Gogodaye West, averred that the accused person falsified his identity and personnel records and used same to make multiple registration on the Federal Government centralized Payroll called Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Systems (IPPIS) punishable under ICPC Act 2000. IPPIS was recently introduced by the Federal Government to eliminate ghost workers and multiple payments of this nature.

The accused person who is a pool staff in the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation was deployed from the OAGF to the Federal Ministry of Works and Education in the year 2009 and 2010 respectively during which he committed the corrupt acts.

He allegedly  used his insider knowledge of the workings of the IPPIS to override the security features of the IPPIS. He fraudulently altered and re-arranged the order of his name on the employment,  transfer letters, and in the process created another identity for himself by  collecting  double salaries which he was not entitled to.

Mr. Anthony allegedly procured the services of two mercenaries to have their bio-metric images registered at the IPPIS registration point as he was aware that the system would identify multiple bio-metrics.

After the 10-count charge was read to the accused person by the court, he pleaded not guilty and his lawyer, Barrister Una Matthew Ody asked for more time to study the charges and respond appropriately. Counsel to the ICPC did not oppose the application for adjournment.

After listening to the submission of the two counsels the presiding Judge, Justice S Garba adjourned the matter to 2nd and 3rd  October  2014 for hearing.