The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee investigating the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has uncovered a network of at least 12 other agencies, companies, foundations and organisations allegedly linked to its promoter, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi.
The committee, chaired by Hon. Yusuf Gadgi said preliminary financial and investigative evidence showed that Adeyemi’s Bank Verification Number and other identifying details were linked to a substantial network of personal, corporate, organisational and foundation accounts.
Among the entities identified are the Confederation of United Nations Youths, FCT Investment Promotion Agency and Public-Private Partnership, FCT Investment Promotion Council and Public-Private Partnership, Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and United Nations Youth Global Agency.
Others are United Nations Youth Global Foundation, World United Nations Youth Global Foundation, World Entrepreneurship University Limited, World Enterprise University Limited, FCT Investment Promotion Act, FCT Promotion Agency and Olubadan of Ibadan Foundation.
The committee said preliminary information indicated that about 58 bank accounts were linked through the relevant identifying details, while more than 30 accounts appeared to have been operated in the names of about nine agencies, companies, foundations or related entities.
It stressed, however, that the identification of the accounts and organisations did not by itself establish that every entity, account or transaction was unlawful.“The Committee has not concluded that every identified account, entity or transaction was unlawful,” Gagdi said, adding that investigators were reconciling registration records, account mandates, beneficial ownership information and transaction histories.
The committee said the similarities in the nomenclature, objectives, management structures, signatories and bank-account relationships had raised concerns over a possible pattern of creating or deploying organisations using governmental, international, investment, educational, charitable and United Nations-related identities.“Evidence presently before the Committee suggests that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi may have been connected, directly or indirectly, with more than twelve such entities,” the committee said.
The latest disclosure came as the committee also found that the PFIPC itself had no valid Act of the National Assembly, Executive Order, gazetted enactment or other lawful instrument establishing it as a Federal Government institution.
The committee further found that several documents allegedly used to give the organisation governmental legitimacy were fabricated, including a purported presidential appointment letter for Adeyemi, a take off approval, an alleged Executive Order and a document presented as an Act of the National Assembly.
According to the committee, a purported letter to the Accountant-General of the Federation seeking an administrative code for PFIPC was also forged, with fictitious names, offices and official designations allegedly deployed to mislead the Federal Government’s financial machinery.
The committee is also investigating how the purported organisation secured office accommodation within the Federal Secretariat Complex, obtained official vehicle number plates and presented President Bola Tinubu and other senior government officials as members of its purported governing council without evidence of their consent.
Gagdi said the investigation would now focus on determining the true ownership and activities of the various entities, the flow of funds through the accounts and whether public officers or private individuals knowingly facilitated the alleged scheme.
He said the committee would also distinguish between persons who may have been deceived by the purported organisation and those who knowingly participated in, facilitated or benefited from its activities.
The House had constituted the committee after concerns emerged over the inclusion of PFIPC in the Federal Budget Framework, with the lawmakers mandated to determine how an allegedly unestablished entity gained access to government structures and processes.
The committee said its findings remain preliminary and that further evidence would be considered before its final report and recommendations are submitted to the House.
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