Audit Report: Senate Orders SEC DG to Refund N594m Vehicle Allowances

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate has directed the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and his commissioners to refund to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the sum of N594 million vehicle allowances some officials of the agencies collected.

The decision was sequel to the failure of the affected officials of the Commission to defend the allegations raised in the 2018 report of the Auditor General for the Federation.

The affected officials of the Commission did not appear after series of letters of invitations sent to them asking them to defend the allegations before the Senate Public Accounts Committee chaired by Senator Mathew Urhoghide.

Although, the Commission made a written submission to the Senate panel, its officials failed to make a physical appearance.

The Senate, while approving the report of its panel at plenary, was left with no other option that to sustain the position of Auditor General for the Federation on the allegations and forwarded the report to the Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

The query read, “In 2013, the Director -General, while serving as Executive Commissioner, was paid the sum of N39 million as monetised car allowances to run for four years, but two years, on his appointment as Director General, he was again paid the sum of N84 million as monetised car allowances.

“In 2015, the Commission procured four project vehicles to meet it’s need at the sum of N144 million, but instead of making use of the vehicles for the purposes they were acquired, the Director General and Commissioners turned them to their sole uses, which contravened chapter 9 (1)&(11) of the Commission’s condition of service .

“Also, the sum of N469 million was further expended on the payment of the monetised motor vehicle insurance in 2015 and 2016.

“In the view of the foregoing, payment of N39 million in 2013, and N84 million in 2015, totaling N124 million to the Director-General were not proper and cannot be considered as proper charges against Public funds.”

The Senate therefore approved the position of the Auditor General asking the Director -General to refund N124 million paid to him.

He was also asked to recover the sum of N469 million expended on the payment of monetised motor vehicle allowances and motor insurance allowances from the beneficiaries and pay to the Consolidated Revenue Fund and forward the payment details to the Office of Auditor General.

The report of the Public Accounts Committee was upheld by the Senate which indicted the Commission.