Abdulrasheed Maina accuses the 7th Senate of aiding and abetting pension thieves

The embattled former chairman of the presidential task force on pension reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, has accused the seventh Senate which was led by Senator David Mark of aiding and abetting pension thieves across the country. According to him, his case was that of corruption fighting back as the Senate favoured pension thieves. He added that that pension funds amounting to more than N3 trillion were trapped in 97 pension offices before he fled the country. This was contained in a letter dated June 19, 2015, which he wrote to the Senate shortly after he returned to the country from self-exile. The letter addressed to Senate president, Bukola Saraki was titled ‘Pension Reform Task Team: Appeal for Review of Investigation Probe by Senate Joint Committee on Establishment and Public Service and States and Local Government Administration 2011-2013. In the letter which was leaked on Friday, November 3, Maina said he was seeking a review of his case and a probe of the various actions taken against him by some people he claimed were bent on intimidating him. “We, members of Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), wish to use this medium to apologise for our little late response to reaching back to you. “We had to put the issues together and source for appurtenant materials. We appreciate your understanding sir. “As a refresher, the PRTT was inaugurated on 10th June, 2010 by the immediate past administration of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, with a clear mandate to restructure the Head of Service Pension Office, Police Pension Office, among others. “We did our utmost with precision and national interests as our guiding principles,” he said. According to him, his team began operation in January 2011 and saved about N1.6 trillion from pension thieves. He added that 46 persons and firms involved in looting pension funds were arrested due to the team’s effort and they were handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. “We used financial intelligence skills to achieve ground-breaking achievements in our assignment. We recovered and saved cash and properties worth over N1.6trillion. “Our efforts led to the arrest and prosecution of 46 persons/firms involved in looting of pension funds which we handed to the EFCC. The trials are still ongoing,” he said. Maina disclosed that there was a leakage of N256 billion monthly from the current IPPIS, which needed to be blocked urgently and also some government hidden accounts which needed to be mopped up. According to him, the seventh Senate set up a committee after the task force team revealed the massive fraud and outright stealing of pension funds. He said the Senate committee ended up creating more problems than solutions to the endemic corruption and fraud prevailing in the system because while the Senate haunted them, it favoured the “pension thieves”.