SAN FRANCISCO, March 06, (THEWILL) – The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has questioned Philomina Chieshe, an official of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), based in Makurdi, who claimed that a snake swallowed N36m which was part of the proceeds of the sale of scratch cards.
According to sources, detectives at the anti-graft agency stated that Chieshe revealed that the money was collected in instalments from her by her Coordinator, Mr. Samuel Umoru, who usually asked her to withdraw proceeds of the sale of the cards from her account in two banks.
She claimed that she had been warning Umaru that it was improper to use the money for miscellaneous expenses in the office or for private purposes but he would not listen adding that Umoru was in the habit of drawing IOUs from the proceeds of the sale of the cards without reimbursing her.
Some of the withdrawals which she claimed were at the behest of the coordinator includes the N340,000 withdrawn on May 5 and 26, 2014 with an ATM card and another N120,000 withdrawn between June 17 and 18, 2014.
It was learnt that Umaru had also been arrested and questioned about claims by Chieshe but he has however, been released on administrative bail.
The EFCC also quizzed another JAMB official, Tanko Labaran, the clerk in Nasarawa State office of the board who could not account for scratch cards worth N23m.
THEWILL recalls that Labaran had claimed that the cards given to him were lost in a car accident he had on his way from the head office which caught fire.
But the EFCC said investigation so far indicated that the cards, which were supposedly destroyed in the accident, were used judging by evidence secured from the JAMB information database as the serial numbers of the cards and the telephone numbers of the users were captured by the JAMB information system.
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