Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday quizzed the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhii, for eight hours.
Although he was released on self-recognition, Orhii was directed to appear at the commission’s office again on Tuesday (today).
Details of the allegations against him remained sketchy at press time, but sources said he was being investigated over a series of allegations levelled against him by a former Finance Director of the Agency.
Orhii had dismissed the allegations which, he noted were levelled by an ex-official of NAFDAC who did not complain about any financial crime for three years but went to town only after he had been reassigned from his duty.
The allegations against the NAFDAC boss run into billions of Naira. He was accused of approving contracts to some companies which were only his fronts.
The former finance director of NAFDAC, Ademola Mogbojuri, had in a newspaper interview accused Orhi of financial recklessness.
He said Orhi refused to remit funds meant for the Federation Account, and instead funneled the agency’s internally generated revenues to fund political campaign in his home state, Benue.
“Some of the companies they used to carry out the deals have collected over N6bn in the last two years,” Mr. Mogbojuri had said in July.
“Towards the general election this year, he collected a lot of money and used it to buy vehicles, which he branded and gave to a governorship aspirant in his native Benue State. The financial recklessness of the DG has brought NAFDAC onto its knees,” he had alleged.
However, the DG described the allegation as false. He had said: “We have not indulged in reckless spending as claimed. Take a look at the person making the allegations, the former director of finance and administration. He is the person who has been making the payments for the past three to four years. Then suddenly when he was reassigned, he woke up to discover that there were irregularities.”
Meanwhile, NAFDAC has maintained that its Director-General, Dr. Paul Orhi was never arrested by the EFCC.
In a series of tweets, NAFDAC noted that the DG ‘honoured his promise to appear before the EFCC and has since returned home’, stressing that there is nothing unusual about it.
“The DG was never arrested as being portrayed by these online portals. He only honored his promise to appear before EFCC and has since returned home”
“There’s nothing unusual about this but to applaud the DG for his willingness to cooperate with the anti-graft agency to get to the root of this allegations,” it said.
