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CONTENTS
With Annotations
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 ON SENATE CONTRACT PROBE PANEL REPORT. In the last month, the Senate Contract Panel Probe, best known as the Kuta Panel has dominated the press, the electronic media and the internet, which finally culminated in the impeachment and removal of Senator Chuba Okadigbo as Senate President, the original and actual intentions of the Probe Panel in the first instance. When the Committee Membership was inaugurated, commentators made allusion to the fact that the majority of the members, and particularly the Chairman, Senator Idris Kuta were die hard opponents of Senator Okadigbo and his supporters and that they believe the panel will engage in a vindictive and implicative mission which will be dangerous to the leadership of the senate and its supporters. I had so much faith in the Senate/Senators irrespective of our shortcomings that I made remarks that whoever is a member of the Ad Hoc Committee, as colleagues, will not manufacture evidence or compromise the truth on a matter so important to the collective integrity of the Senate. I felt that any senator, irrespective of the group he/she belongs within the senate will not twist the facts to impinge on the character and integrity of his fellow senator. I was monumentally wrong and naive not to know that evil people still abound and that judging people from my own perspectives and standards was catastrophic. The Idris Kuta Panel went on a satanic mission to tell monumental lies on their colleagues, paint those of us indicted as criminals, and were exceptionally vindictive and conservative with the facts and truth. Our different testimonies had no bearing whatsoever with the findings, conclusions and recommendations. It became a waste of time that we gave evidence in the first place. The inconsistencies were embarrassing. The findings, conclusions and recommendations could easily have been written from day one to achieve the objective of removing Senator Okadigbo and tarnishing the image of those of us that support him. Let me explain accordingly and present the facts so that the world will know the truth. THE REPORT "Evidence before the Committee shows that he (Senator Aluko) withheld the sum of N35million out of the N45miliion provided for the disbursement to Senators for the repairs of their quarters. The Committee finds Senator Gbenga Aluko to have abused his office and therefore recommends that:
Table 5 is as below.
Notes: by the Committee
The committee claims that evidence shows that the sum of N35m was withheld by me which was provided for disbursement to Senators. There was no such evidence provided in the Verbatim Report and Attachments thereof by the committee in Volumes 1 and II of their submissions. For me to collect N35m from the National Assembly coffers, one will expect an approval for payment to have been granted by either the Senate President or Clerk of National Assembly, a payment voucher to be raised, a cheque to be issued, be it cash or otherwise, an acknowledgement of payment received etc. There should be a trace of payment in some shape or form. It cannot be that N35m, not N35, was paid to me by the Director of Finance and Supplies without any record. It has never been the practice that payments intended for Senators is paid through the account of another Senator for further disbursement to other Senators. The truth of the matter is that no such payment was ever made to me and the Director of Finance and Supplies has since written a letter ref no. NASS/F&S/14 of 2nd August 2000. [SEE NOTE 5] It beats my imagination therefore how the panel found it proper to ask me to refund N35million without asking the Director of Finance and Supplies, who is the custodian of the National Assembly accounts as to the true situation of things. Furthermore Table 5 which indicates the level of over expenditure and inflated prices amounting to N39,257,598 which I am to refund is even more laughable. First and foremost, I am asked to refund the sum of N11,869,645 being the inflated price of a 100KVA Generator. I did not participate, recommend, process or have knowledge of this transaction whatsoever until I was investigating this so called missing N35m and inflated contracts. Documents in my possession show that the purchase of the 100KVA Generator with associated extensive electrical works was recommended by the former Chairman, Senate Services Committee, Senator A.T Ahmed through minutes written to the CNA on a letter of 15th November 1999. The Director of Finance & Supplies was consequently authorized by the CNA after approval by the Senate President to process a letter of award based on a renegotiated price of N14,157,600 to RIOK INTERNATIONAL CO. LTD. The award letter was issued on the 26th of November 1999. Even by the claims of the Ad Hoc Committee, I became 'Sole Administrator' from the 30th of November 1999. The important fact here is that the transaction started prior to 15th of November 1999 by the Senate Services Committee Chairman, Senator A.T Ahmed, was recommended on the 15th of November 1999 and letter of award issued on 26th November 1999 while Senator A.T Ahmed was still Chairman. How then can I be accused of something I know absolutely nothing about. Table 5 (a) purports that the Xerox 265 DC Copier, awarded at a price of N5,952,000 inclusive of VAT and Withholding Tax was over inflated by N1,341,545 which I am asked to refund. Let me first clarify that what was supplied is not the Xerox 265 DC but a much higher grade and specification, the Xerox 265 ST. The price of the Xerox 265 DC is N4,613,700 while that of the Xerox 265 ST is N6,341,921 inclusive of service charge and VAT. The committee may have been right if what was supplied was the Xerox 265 DC. Unfortunately, the Committee did not bother to check the equipment, which is at Committee Room 13, used by the Finance and Appropriation Committee. Rather than being asked to refund N1,341,545 what was saved is actually N389,921 on the unit. Also, the committee states that the Xerox 214 DC of which they based their pricing and calculated refund replaces the Xerox 5815. In as much as I do not want to go into detailed specification, the Xerox 214 DC is a smaller copier that does only A4 paper while the Xerox 5815 does A3 paper and is a much higher specification copier than the Xerox 214 DC referred to by the Committee and used for price comparison. The committee further claims that there is strong suspicion that the 5815 Copiers were all refurbished. See Xerox H.S (Nigeria) Limited letter dated 3rd August 2000 which addresses all the queries above. [SEE NOTE 4] The most amusing one is items c-e, the Laptops, APC UPS and the Compaq DeskPro Computers allegedly inflated. I have stated times without number that the price of the Dell Latitude Cpx is no secret and prices can be accessed from the DELL CORPORATION WEBSITE at www.dell.com or by direct telephone call to the DELL CORPORATION. Prices as at November/December last year when the supplier, Messrs TRITECH COMPUTERS LIMITED imported the Laptops from DELL can be got directly from the manufacturers by phone call. The committee however decided to go to a local and non ccredited DELL supplier in NICON and use that as basis for price comparison. There has also been constant reference to TRITECH COMPUTERS LTD as being my company. I own no shares either directly or remotely and knew about the existence of the company in 1994/95 when they were installing the computer network system of the National Maritime Authority (NMA) at Apapa, Lagos, a building shared by the Nigerian Shippers Council then at 4 Burma Road of which I was General Manager. None of my business concerns deals in computers, accessories or software. On the Compaq DeskPro Computers, it is instructive to note that on page 34 of Volume II, it was stated that the supply of 3 Nos. Computer Set for the Office of the Senate President was awarded on the 31st of August 1999 by Senator Evan Enwerem at a price of N1,650,000, that is, N550,000 per set consisting of the Compaq DeskPro Computer, HP 695C DeskJet Printer, and a UPS. Also note that Task Systems Ltd, was the supplier of these 3 Systems. Task Systems Ltd also participated in later supplies for which I am being accused of inflated prices. It is instructive to note that when we later negotiated for the supply of the same kind of Compaq DeskPro 10GB Computers (as against 6GB earlier supplied), HP Laser Printer LJ1100 (not DeskJet), APC 680 VA UPS and Surge Protector, our total price was N391,500 inclusive of VAT and Withholding Tax. The Committee however finds it proper to accuse me of over pricing and inflated contract at a lower price of N391,500 and ignore a previously bought product at a higher price of N550,000. What Logic! All these calculations above make up the N39,257,598 I am supposed to refund in the imagination of the Committee. Throughout the hearing, not one contractor was called to testify, but they went ahead to draw conclusions. In any case, let us even assume that the claims of the committee of inflated prices can be substantiated, all payments were made to companies duly engaged by the Senate to supply the products and not to Senator Gbenga Aluko. How then can I be asked to refund monies that I did not receive or benefit from under the guise that prices were high and inflated? I have no power of approval, authorization, or award. The payments for the Rank Xerox equipments which 11 companies were contracted to deliver, one of which it is claimed I have shares, was paid directly to FSB INTERNATIONAL BANK LTD, bankers of Xerox H.S Nigeria Limited. All the cheques were signed for and collected by Mrs. Toyosi Adekanye, a Sales Staff of Xerox H.S (Nigeria) Ltd, Abuja. At best, the 11 Companies acted as agents to Rank Xerox and never received payments from the National Assembly as evidenced from the letters of domiciliation issued to the Director of Finance and Supplies instructing that payments be made directly to FSB INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC. The companies benefit ended in the payments of between 11%-17%, an average of 14% commission on sales by Xerox H.S (Nigeria) Limited. Photocopies of all cheques were also duly attached in my written submission to the committee as proof. This was conveniently ignored and not referred to whatsoever by the committee. The fact that all contracts were fully executed as and when due as approved in the budget was never commended.
CONCLUSION However, I derive comfort from the spirit and belief that what is false does not last and the truth shall always vindicate the just. ANNOTATIONS NOTE 1:
Chairman: Idris Ibrahim Kuta of Niger State;
The volume two of the report (containing summary findings, conclusions and recommendations) was submitted to the Senate on August 1 and the volume one (containing verbatim report and exhibits) was submitted on August 3. NOTE 2: NOTE 3:
NOTE 4: The Xerox Letter NOTE 5: The DFC Letter
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