ICPC probes corruption allegations at NAICOM, summons three directors

A top official in government confided in one of our correspondents on Tuesday that the investigation was being done by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the ICPC. It was learnt that the investigation of the management of the commission came two weeks after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission also invited some officials of the agency. Findings revealed that three top officials of NAICOM had been invited by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the ICPC to appear on Monday as part of investigations into allegations of corruption at the commission. It was gathered that the officials, who would appear before the ICPC would come from the departments of administration, authorisation and policy as well as enforcement and compliance. A top government official, who pleaded not to be named as he was not permitted to speak on the matter, said there had been breakdown of corporate governance structures at the commission. He gave some of the issues being investigated by the ICPC as granting of indiscriminate waivers of fines to defaulting insurance companies without due approval; and settlement of Lion of Africa liabilities without following the ranking for beneficiaries as provided in the Insurance Act. Other allegations being investigated are renewal of the appointment of the Deputy Commissioner, in charge of Finance and Account without laid down regulations and, abuse of office and mismanagement of funds. The source said, “As the Ministry of Finance’s Investigative Panel has yet to swing into action to verify the allegations levelled against the Management of the National Insurance Commission by the employees last year, the ICPC has commenced the investigation of the commission’s top management on issues including indiscriminate waivers of fines without due approval.” Attempts to get the spokesperson for NAICOM, Mr. Rasaq Salami, to comment were not successful as calls made to him did not go through while a text message sent to him had yet to be responded to. When one of our correspondents met with the Chairman of the ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, on Tuesday, he said that the ICPC Act would not allow him to comment on the issue. He said, “You know the way we operate. Section 61 of the ICPC Act does not allow us to make comment on such issues.” However, an official of the commission who confided in one of our correspondents said that the matter was under investigation. The source refused to make further disclosure on the details of the investigation, saying it was not the style of the agency to comment on an ongoing investigation. The workers’ union at the commission under the aegis of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services’ Employees, had in January written a letter to the Ministry of Finance claiming that NAICOM was losing huge revenue on behalf of government as a result of unnecessary granting of waivers to defaulting insurance firms In the letter titled, “Highlights of the bad state of NAICOM,” the union claimed that the waivers were granted by the commission to insurance companies that had been sanctioned for various infractions committed in the past. The union, according to the letter, explained that the waivers granted by the commission had led to loss of huge revenue to the government adding that it was also having negative impact on the insurance industry. It read in part, “The NAICOM branch of the union has carried out two sessions of picketing this year, one in March and the most recently in November. “Each of these picketing lasted a minimum of three days which obviously affected the operations of NAICOM.”]]>