Another Looter Goes Down :
EFCC Slams 419, Stealing
Charges On Former Head of
Service , Steve Oronsaye
NewsRescue
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) is set to arraign
Nigeria’s former top civil servant over
allegations he stole over N1.9billion.
Oronsaye Stephen
Mr. Steve Oronsaye, who served as Head of
Service, was arrested on Wednesday and
remained in detention until Friday when the
EFCC filed charges at a federal court.
He was granted bail and ordered to present
himself for proper arraignment on Monday.
EFCC sources told Saharareporters that Mr.
Oronsaye remain in detention unable to fulfil
the copnditions for his bail.
Details of the charges obatined by our
reporter are included below, also
SaharaReporters had previously detailed
some of the financial shenanigans involving
Mr. Oronsaye following documents received
from the EFCC concerning its investigation of
allegations he stole the money during his
tenure as Head of Service.
Tap to Read
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, on Friday slammed a 24-
count charge of stealing on the former Head
of Service of the Federation (HOS), Steve
Oronsaye, and two others.
The charges brought against the former HOS
and two other accomplices border on stealing
and obtaining by false pretence, otherwise
known as 419, people familiar with the
matter told PREMIUM TIMES.
We understand that Mr. Oronsaye and his
two accomplices would be arraigned in court
on Monday.
Already, the case has been assigned to
Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High
Court, Abuja.
Mr. Oronsaye was arrested by the anti-graft
agency on Wednesday on allegations of
corruption.
He, however, ran into fresh trouble when new
allegations emerged that he was engaged in
theft and money laundering.
The commission had granted him
administrative bail and ordered him to report
for further interrogation Friday.
After hours of rigorous questioning by top
officials of the commission, the 24-count
charges were drawn up against him.
PREMIUM TIMES had in December 15, 2013
exclusively reported how Mr. Oronsaye and
other top directors of the Nigerian civil
service colluded to allegedly defraud the
nation of N6.2 billion pension fund.
The fund, allegedly stolen through a maze of
bogus contracts, was meant for biometric
enrollment and payment for computer
accessories that were never supplied,
PREMIUM TIMES learnt.
Mr. Oronsaye, 64, was appointed the Head of
the Nigerian Civil Service in 2009.
A reliable source at the commission had at
the time said that between 2009 and 2010,
almost N6 billion in fake contracts were
awarded and paid for under Mr. Oronsaye’s
supervision.
The fraud
According to the EFCC, Innovative Solutions
and Project Limited, a company allegedly
handpicked by Mr. Oronsaye, received a
contract of N63 million for biometric data
capture.
The contract, however, served as a conduit
through which three individuals and five
companies got N705,368,245.
Other companies which had no contract to
participate in the biometric data capture
exercise but were paid include Frederick
Hamilton Global Limited, who received
N119,398,500; Xangee Technologies got
N153,146,719; Fatidek Venture received
N30,056,000; while Obanlado Enterprises was
paid N96,765,400.00.
During its investigations, the EFCC uncovered
how Phina Chidi, a deputy director in the
Pension Account at the Office of the Head of
Civil Service of the Federation, OHCSF, who
had given a written statement to the
commission in January, 2011, disclosed to
the agency how she was made to shop for
companies that would execute contracts and
make returns to Mr. Oronsaye.
“I was asked by Dr. Shuaibu (Teildi Shuaibu,
Director, Pension Account) to shop for
company names to execute our contracts,
proceeds of which should be given to Mr.
Stephen Oronsaye the then Head of Service,”
Mrs. Chidi said in her statement.
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